RUNNING CHICAGO MARATHON : Event Is Back in Business in Windy City
When the America’s Marathon died in 1987, a part of big-time marathoning went with it. Chicago had established itself--through the shrewd salesmanship of its race director and the fast times set on its course--as one of the few important marathons in the world.
The race lost its sponsor, however, when Beatrice Foods became the subject of a hostile takeover in 1986. A potential sponsor fell through at the last minute the next year and, two years ago, Chicago dropped out of the marathon business.
Then a strange thing happened. Rather than gloating over the demise of a competitor, the other major marathons in this country and elsewhere mourned. Not without good reason. To lure sponsors to the sport, race officials in Boston, London and New York want to point to growing and healthy marathons in most major markets. Losing Chicago might have eroded sponsor confidence.
“It definitely had an impact on us all,” said Fred Lebow, director of the New York City Marathon, and arch-rival of Bob Bright, formerly race director here. “No one liked to see it.”
Lebow’s much-publicized wars with Bright--the races have always been scheduled about a week apart and compete for the same runners--added spice to a sport that is often as monotonous off the race course as it is on.
The intense competition between the two big fall marathons is credited with escalating athletes’ appearance fees and attracting top sponsors.
Bright is gone, but the Chicago marathon is back, with a new director and new name. Today, about 8,000 runners are expected to start in the Old Style-Chicago, a name that reflects the product of the race’s title sponsor, the G. Heileman Brewing Co.
Lee Flaherty, who founded the marathon here 13 years ago, admits it was tough finding another sponsor after 1986. Even armed with letters from a U.S. senator, the governor and the mayor, Flaherty said he contacted 62 Chicago-based companies and received polite no’s before Heileman, a Wisconsin company, signed on for three years and $1.3 million.
So now the brewery has a race, but has that race lost its luster?
Chicago’s flat and fast point-to-point course produced Steve Jones’ former world record and Joan Benoit Samuelson’s still-standing U.S. record of 2 hours 21 minutes 21 seconds. In the 1985 race, in which Samuelson set the U.S. record against Ingrid Kristiansen and Rosa Mota and Jones came agonizingly close to another world record, Chicago showed it was a racer’s race. The times in that 1985 women’s race remain the second-, fifth- and sixth-fastest times ever.
But that was another time. In 1986, there were 12,214 entrants. In last year’s resumption race, there were 6,408 entrants.
Worse still, from a credibility standpoint, Chicago has few of the big-name athletes who flock to Boston and New York.
Part of the problem is race director Tim Murphy’s budget, which is not comparable to what Bright had to work with and can’t come close to the clout of John Hancock Financial Services, the insurance giant that controls scores of the world’s top runners and has contractual agreements with the Boston, New York and Los Angeles marathons.
“We’re just not in the same league, in terms of appearance fees, as John Hancock,” said Murphy, who is from La Jolla.
“We have $350,000 in prize money, don’t get me wrong, that is not small time. We are counting on the tradition and a very good field coming here to run fast. We have all the ingredients for one of the best marathons in the world.”
The purse is the largest in the world, strictly in terms of prize money. Some races, Los Angeles is an example, include the value of cars, cameras, airline tickets and other prizes in calculating their purses, rather than counting cash only.
Here, winners receive only cash, and plenty of it. The men’s and women’s winner will get $50,000 each, many thousands more than at some races. The depth of the significant prize money is good, too, with money given to 15th place.
Money as an inducement is not to be underestimated. The promise of fast times, however, also has its attraction. Whether this may prove the equalizer for Chicago in the future may be determined today.
Marathon Notes
Martin Pitayo of Mexico, Iakov Tolstikov of the Soviet Union, El-Mostafa Nechadi of Morocco and Suleiman Nyambui of Tanzania are among the favorites in the wide-open men’s field. . . . Because Chicago is experiencing unseasonably warm weather--it has been in the 70s during the day, more than 20 degrees higher than marathoners like it--an edge must be given to runners who can do well in the heat.
Lisa Weidenbach is back to defend her title in the women’s race. Fellow American Cathy O’Brien, the junior world-record holder at this distance and a 1988 Olympian, is hoping for a time under 2:30. Also in the women’s race is Erin Baker of New Zealand. Baker is a triathlete who has won the Ironman competition. She has run one open marathon but nevertheless said she plans to run with the leaders. “I didn’t come here to run at the back of the pack,” she said. “If I blow up at 15 or 20 miles, I blow up. That’s the chance I’ll have to take.”
The race will have three “rabbits” or pace setters. Two of them are superior runners. Doug Padilla, a 1988 Olympian at 5,000 meters, can be expected to start fast and then drop out. Don Janicki, whose 2:12:18 is the second-fastest marathon by an American this year, may decide to continue beyond the halfway point, which is all his job calls for.
Laurie Binder of Oakland is among the women’s elite competitors. Binder was training on a track in Alameda when the earthquake struck Oct. 17. “The track actually rippled,” she said. “I turned to my coach and said, ‘That’s a 7.0’ Not bad.” Binder’s 50-year-old home in the Oakland foothills survived in good shape. . . . Race officials admit there may be a massive traffic snarl around Soldier Field, where the Bears will play the Rams. Fans for that football game are expected to arrive for tailgating parties just as the back of the marathon pack will be slogging by.
