Chicago Marathon 2027 : the course km by km, race week and travel

Chicago has no hills to plan around, and that is not the same as having nothing to plan. The whole loop stays inside a band of height 9.6 m tall, but it turns 36 times on the city grid, three of those turns are near U-turns, and the field is one of the largest in the sport: 54,383 finished in 2025. What decides the day is the speed kept through corners and crowds, the October weather, and the one climb anyone feels, in the last kilometre.

The loop starts and finishes in Grant Park, goes north, then west, then south, and comes back up Michigan Avenue. The kilometres and heights below are measured along the organiser’s 2026 street-closure list, walked onto OpenStreetMap, on the USGS 1 m elevation model. The organiser has not said whether the 2027 course changes, so check its course page before you set a pacing plan.

Km 0 to 3.7: the Loop

The start is on Columbus Drive in Grant Park, heading north, and the highest point of the entire race, 188.9 m, is beside the start line at km 0.2. Columbus Drive crosses the Chicago River before turning onto Grand Avenue at about km 1.2. Dearborn Street takes the course back south over the river from about km 2.0 and through the Loop to Jackson Boulevard at about km 3.4. The road drops about 7 m in the first 2 km, most of the height the course has to give, so the opening miles feel quick: hold back.

Km 3.7 to 12.8: north on LaSalle and the lakefront

LaSalle Street is the first long straight, 3.8 km from about km 3.7 to km 7.4, and the course crosses the river again on its way north. Stockton Drive, Fullerton Drive and Cannon Drive carry it on from about km 7.6 to km 10.1, then Sheridan Road and Inner Lake Shore Drive take it to the northern turn at about km 12.4. The lowest point of the race is on this stretch, 179.3 m at about km 11.2. Wikipedia places this northern turn near Wrigley Field. In 2026 the first water refill station sat at mile 5.7 (km 9.2), just before aid station 4, for runners carrying their own soft flasks.

Km 12.8 to 21.6: back south to the river and halfway

Broadway runs south from about km 12.8 to km 15.1, followed by Clark Street, Webster Avenue and Sedgwick Street to North Avenue at about km 17.6. Between km 14.7 and km 15.9 the road rises about 2.6 m, the longest steady rise before the finish and too gentle to notice. Wells Street runs 2.6 km south, back over the river into the Loop, and halfway falls on Wacker Drive. At about km 21.6, 470 m past halfway, the course turns off Wacker onto Adams Street at the north-west corner of Willis Tower. The organiser’s first Maurten gel depot was at mile 12.4 (km 20.0) in 2026, near aid station 9.

Km 21.6 to 27.3: out west to the first U-turn

Adams Street is the longest straight of the middle of the race, 3.3 km west across the river’s South Branch to Damen Avenue. At about km 24.8 the course goes a short block south on Damen and comes straight back east on Jackson Boulevard, a turn of 182 degrees within about 200 m: the westernmost point of the loop, and the turn Wikipedia places near the United Center. Go round it wide rather than braking into it. Extra medical tents sit between miles 14 and 15 (km 22.5 to 24.1). Jackson Boulevard then runs east to Halsted Street at about km 27.3.

Km 27.3 to 32.7: the grid, corner after corner

This is the most broken part of the course. Halsted Street south, Taylor Street west, Loomis Street south, 18th Street east, Halsted again and 21st Street come one after another, each a near right angle, none longer than about 1.3 km. At about km 32.7 the course leaves 21st Street onto Canalport Avenue and into Cermak Road, a turn of 150 degrees over about 60 m and the sharpest single corner of the race. In 2026 the second Maurten depot was at mile 18.1 (km 29.1), and bananas were handed out from mile 20.2 (km 32.5) through mile 23 (km 37.0).

Km 32.7 to 38.4: Cermak Road and the southern turn

Cermak Road runs east to Wentworth Avenue, past a pain-relief spray zone at Cermak Road and Archer Avenue at mile 21.2 (km 34.1) in 2026. Wentworth Avenue and 26th Street lead to Michigan Avenue at about km 35.8, and the course goes south to 35th Street and doubles back north on Indiana Avenue at about km 37.3, a turn of 180 degrees. This is the southern end of the loop, the turn Wikipedia places near Rate Field. 31st Street brings the field back onto Michigan Avenue at about km 38.4.

Km 38.4 to the finish: Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road

From km 38.4 Michigan Avenue runs 3.2 km north without a corner. At about km 41.6 the course turns right onto Roosevelt Road, and this is the climb: on a profile smoothed over 1 km the road gains about 4 m between km 41.2 and the line, more than anywhere since the start, and the real ramp is shorter and steeper than that average shows. Save something for it. The course turns onto Columbus Drive at about km 41.9 and the finish is on Columbus Drive between 9th and 11th Street, about 330 m after that last turn.

The expo and start times below are the organiser’s 2027 schedule. Details marked 2026 may change.

The expo and your packet

Packets are handed out only at the Abbott Health and Fitness Expo at McCormick Place: Thursday 7 October 2027 from 10am to 6pm, and Friday 8 and Saturday 9 October from 9am to 6pm. In 2026 it was in the North Building, Level 3, Hall B1, at 2301 S. Martin Luther King Drive. Bring the Packet Pick-up email (sent at the end of September in 2026) and a government-issued photo ID that matches the name you registered under. Every runner collects their own packet: nobody may collect for someone else, and there is no pick-up on race day.

The free Pace Team has a booth at the expo. Pacers are allocated to start corrals, and you can run with any pace group in your own corral.

Getting into Grant Park

Grant Park opens to runners at 5.30am, and the start corrals and gear check open at the same time. Everyone passes a security screening before entering the park, and you may be asked to empty bottles and containers there. Hydration backpacks and vests with bladders are not allowed on the course. Vests with front pockets, belts, handheld bottles and soft flasks are.

Waves and corrals

Runners are put in start corrals on their expected finish time. Waves 1 and 2 are assigned on an accepted qualifying time, and Wave 3 on the finish time you gave. The 2027 schedule:

• Men’s professional wheelchair: 7.20am
• Handcycles: 7.23am
• Men’s and women’s professional fields: 7.30am
• Wave 1: 7.35am, corrals close at 7.20am
• Wave 2: 8am, corrals close at 7.45am
• Wave 3: 8.35am, corrals close at 8.10am

Be in your corral about 20 minutes before it closes, the organiser advises. Times are subject to change.

Gear check

Only the clear plastic participant bag from your packet is accepted. The colour on the top and bottom of your bib, red, blue or orange, sends you to your gear check area. Gear check opens at 5.30am and every bag must be collected by 4pm. In 2026, bags left after that went to 720 S. Michigan Avenue, open from 5.30pm to 7pm.

On the course

There are 20 aid stations, about one to two miles apart. Each one has, in this order, a medical tent with access to a runner transport vehicle, toilets, Gatorade Endurance Formula (lemon-lime), an announcer and water. Medical support is at 22 places on the course in all, and in 2026 water refill stations for runners’ own bottles sat at miles 5.7, 10.1, 15.7 and 20.3. The organiser counts 1.7 million spectators along the course.

The cut-off

The time limit is 6 hours 30 minutes, a 15-minute mile, held by an event vehicle behind the last starter; runners behind it move to the sidewalk as the streets reopen and may not be recorded as official finishers. In 2026 anyone finishing after 3.30pm collected their medal in an area just west of the finish line.