History of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon

That same year, Khannouchi returned to Chicago after a year absence to challenge Paul Tergat, defending champion Ben Kimondiu, and two-time London Marathon champion Abdelkhader El Mouaziz. Khannouchi’s 2:05:56 victory earned him an unprecedented fourth LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon title, and he became the only marathoner in the world with three sub-2:06 performances.

Evans Rutto rocked the field in 2003 with a World Debut Record and tasted victory once more in 2004, this time joined by Constantina Tomescu-Dita who earned her first-ever crown in the women’s race. In 2005, Felix Limo overtook Rutto (2:07:02) while American sweetheart Deena Kastor won the women’s race in 2:21:25 despite a late challenge from Tomescu-Dita.

In 2006 The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon altered the world view of the marathon by aligning itself with four other races that equal its prestige: the Boston, Flora London, BMW Berlin and ING New York marathons. This allegiance of five created the World Marathon Majors – a series of qualifying competitions that will award a total $1 million to be split equally between the top male and female marathoner each year. The groundbreaking move is the first of its kind in the sport and is paving the way toward raising awareness for its athletes and the sport overall.

2007 marked the acquisition of LaSalle Bank by Bank of America. After a 14-year association with LaSalle, the race's name was changed to reflect its new steward: the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

In 2009, Olympic Marathon gold medalist Sammy Wanjiru took down Khannouchi's course record by a single second with at time of 2:05:41. That was also the year that Russia's Liliya Shobukhova won the first of what would become three straight Bank of America Chicago Marathon titles.

In 2011, the men's course record was improved once again as Kenya's Moses Mosop, who had been battling an injury after he ran 2:03:06 as the Boston Marathon in the spring and who estimated his fitness to only be 85%, ran 2:05:37. On the women's side, Shobukhova won her third consecutive marathon in style with a time of 2:18:20, the second fastest time ever run in Chicago, the fourth fastest of all time, and a new Russian record.