The 2012

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a road marathon held in October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the seven World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is one of the largest races by number of fini ...

was the 35th edition of the annual

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

race in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and was held on Sunday, October 7. An

IAAF Gold Label Road Race World Athletics Label Road Races are races that World Athletics (until 2019: ''IAAF'') designates as the "leading road races around the world." The classification was first introduced for the 2008 running season, upon the suggestion of the IAAF R ...

, it was the fourth and final

World Marathon Majors The World Marathon Majors (WMM) sponsored by Abbott Laboratories is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on seven major marathon races recognised as the most high-profile o ...

event to be held that year.

Tsegaye Kebede Tsegaye Kebede Wordofa (Amharic: ፀጋየ ከበደ ዎርዶፋ; born 15 January 1987) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in road running events, including marathons. He quickly rose to become a prominent distance runner after ...

won the men's race in a course record of 2:04:38 hours and

Atsede Baysa Atsede Bayisa Tesema, also known as Atsede ''Bayisa'' (born 16 April 1987), is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in road running events. She has won the Chicago Marathon, Boston Marathon and Paris Marathon twice. She has also won ...

was the women's winner in a personal best of 2:22:03.Gugala, Jon (2012-10-07)
Course record for Kebede, Baysa dethrones Shobukhova - Chicago Marathon report
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-02-02. A total of 37455 runners finished the race (20688 men, 16767 women).

Summary

The focus of the women's race was

Liliya Shobukhova Liliya Bulatovna Shobukhova, née Shagbalova, Divorced name Volkova, (; born 13 November 1977) is a Russian long-distance runner who competed in marathon races. She previously specialized in the 3000 and 5000 metres track events. She served a d ...

, who had won the race three times consecutively but had dropped out of the Olympic marathon. Kenya's

Lucy Wangui Kabuu Lucy Wangui Kabuu (born 24 March 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 and 10,000 metres events. She has represented Kenya twice at the Summer Olympics, finishing in the top ten of the 10,000 m race in both 2004 ...

was the second-fastest entrant with a best of 2:19:34 hours. Other prominent entrants included Ethiopians Atsede Baysa and Merima Mohammed. Tsegaye Kebede and

Wesley Korir Wesley Kipchumba Korir (15 November 1982) is a Kenyan athlete who specializes in long distance running competitions, as well as a politician who served as an elected member of Parliament for Cherangany Constituency. On 16 April 2012, he won the ...

, runners-up in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

respectively, were the principal contenders for the men's race.Gugala, Jon (2012-10-05)
Three-time winner Shobukhova poised for a fourth in Chicago - PREVIEW
IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-02-02. Demonstrating the depth of the field, the men's race had thirteen runners in the pack by the halfway point (timing 1:02:54) – all of them Kenyan or Ethiopian. By the time the two

pacemaker A pacemaker, also known as an artificial cardiac pacemaker, is an implanted medical device that generates electrical pulses delivered by electrodes to one or more of the chambers of the heart. Each pulse causes the targeted chamber(s) to co ...

s (Shadrack Kosgei and Merkabu Birke) had dropped out around the 30 km mark, Tsegaye had assumed the head of the pack.

Laban Korir Laban Kipngetich Korir (born 30 June 1985 in Uasin Gishu District) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in road running competitions. He is currently part of the NN Running Team, an international team of elite long-distance runners man ...

and

Michael Kipyego Michael Kipkorir Kipyego (born 2 October 1983) is a Kenyan runner who competes in marathon races. He was initially a specialist in the 3000 metres steeplechase and was the 2002 World Junior Champion in the event. He represented Kenya in the stee ...

had fallen away at that point. Tsegaye accelerated and a succession of four sub-4:40 miles reduced the lead pack to himself,

Tilahun Regassa Tilahun Regassa Dabe (born 18 January 1990) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who mainly competes in road running competitions. He has a half marathon best of 59:19 minutes and has won the Zayed International Half Marathon and Lille Half Marat ...

Sammy Kitwara Sammy Kirop Kitwara (born 26 November 1986 in Sagat, Marakwet District) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in road running events. He is coached by Moses Kiptanui. As of November 2023 he is the 33rd fastest half marathon runner in ...

and

Feyisa Lilesa Feyisa Lilesa ( Afaan Oromo: Fayyisaa Leellisaa; born 1 February 1990) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He became the youngest man to run under 2:06 when he ran 2:05:23 in the men's marathon at the 2010 Rotterdam Marathon. He set his perso ...

. Wesley Korir was twenty seconds behind after 35 km. With one mile left, only Feyisa remained alongside Tsegaye, but the latter steadily pulled away in the final section of the race to win by a margin of fourteen seconds with a course record 2:04:38 hours. Feyisa took the runner-up spot and Tilahun completed the podium half a minute later. Kitwara and Wesley Korir were next to finish.

Dathan Ritzenhein Dathan James Ritzenhein (born December 30, 1982) is a retired American long-distance runner, and current head coach of the On Athletics Club (OAC). He held the American record in the 5,000 metres (12:56.27) from 2009 to 2010, until it was broke ...

closed his race quickly to place ninth, the first non-East African to finish, with a personal record 2:07:47.2012 Chicago Marathon Leaderboard
Chicago Marathon. Retrieved on 2013-02-03. The women's race also had a number of contenders left as the race reached the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

mark in 1:11:15 hours, with two Russians, three Kenyans and four Ethiopians in the pack of nine. Kabuu seized the lead after this point and by 30 km she had divided the pack in two, with

Fatuma Sado Fatuma Sado Dergo (born 11 October 1991) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. She has a personal best of 2:26:09 hours and has won marathons in Hamburg, Los Angeles and Xiamen. Fatuma signed up with athletics (spor ...

, Caroline Rotich and

Rita Jeptoo Rita Jeptoo (born 15 February 1981) is a Kenyan marathon runner. Along with winning the Boston Marathon on two occasions, she has also won marathons in Chicago, Stockholm, and Milan. Jeptoo. Jeptoo was the bronze medalist at the 2006 IAAF Wo ...

all five seconds ahead of Atsede, Shobukhova and

Werknesh Kidane Werknesh Kidane (; born November 21, 1981), is an Ethiopian long-distance runner from Tigray who competes in both 5000 and 10,000 metres. She has won numerous medals at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and represented Ethiopia at the S ...

. Merima Mohammed was the first prominent race drop-out. Over the next 5 km Fatuma faded away and Atsede had pushed her way back to the front. Rotich soon fell behind and the final mile stretch became a hotly contested duel between Atsede and Jeptoo. Atsede was the one to reach the line first by a very narrow margin – 2:22:03 to Jeptoo's 2:22:04. Kabuu took third while Shobukhova finished quickly for fourth place. Renee Metivier Baillie was the first American home in a personal record run of 2:27:17 for eighth.2012 Chicago Marathon Leaderboard
Chicago Marathon. Retrieved on 2013-02-03. The men's

wheelchair race Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, including leg amputees, spinal cord injuries, and cerebral palsy. Athletes are classified in acc ...

was won by

Josh Cassidy Josh Cassidy (born November 15, 1984, in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian Paralympic wheelchair racer,motivational speaker, artist, and actor. He is a 31 time Canadian Champion competing in the middle to long distance events. He has been National ...

and

Tatyana McFadden Tatyana McFadden (; born April 21, 1989) is an American Paralympic athlete competing in the category T54. McFadden has won twenty-two Paralympic medals across multiple Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and the Laureus World Sportsperson of ...

defended her women's title.

Results

Elite men

2012 Chicago Marathon - lead men cropped

Elite women

2012 Chicago Marathon - lead women cropped

Wheelchair

;Men ;Women

References

;Race results
2012 Chicago Marathon results
Chicago Marathon. Retrieved on 2013-02-02.

External links

Official websiteKebede wins Chicago Marathon in course-record 2:04:38
{{World Marathon Majors 2012 Chicago Marathon 2012 in Chicago

October 2012 sports events in the United States

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