The 2025 Bank of America Chicago 13.1 half marathon will take place on Sunday offering a free festival, youth races, wellness activities and a community pop-up in Garfield Park, drawing thousands of runners and visitors to the West Side. 

Now in its fourth year, the race will follow the same course used for the past three years, with only minor adjustments. The race winds through Chicago’s West Side, starting and finishing in Garfield Park.  

According to Carey Pinkowski, the executive race director, organizers began outreach in early winter through town hall meetings and one-on-one conversations, in collaboration with the alderman’s office.  

The most intensive outreach takes place the weekend before the event, with volunteers putting flyers on cars and going door-to-door near Garfield Park to inform residents about the detours and help them plan accordingly. 

On May 28, the team will have an information booth set up in Garfield Park to share details about the event with community members.  

“Whether people are walking by or want to stop, we can give them that information. We’ll also be out this weekend. But our website is the best source for information,” Pinkowski said.  

Community members are invited to join for the free Race Day Festival featuring a mix of entertainment, health and wellness activities and community activations.  

In addition, the Bank of America Chicago 13.1 collaborated with West Side residents to offer wellness-based activities on May 31 in Garfield Park. There will be free activities that include a family-friendly 1.21-mile Wellness Walk, youth events, and a community pop-up featuring local West Side business and organizations.  

“It really was about showcasing the West Side’s people — the vendors we’ve hired and others we’ve brought on for certain positions who will be helping us out — but also about the entertainment, the food, the excitement and experiencing a magnificent part of the city,” Pinkowski said. 

The goal of all race weekend activities is to support, advance and celebrate health, wellness, and movement on Chicago’s West Side. 

“We’re going to have some sprints for the kids, as well as a mile-long race for them. All of these events are free to the public. So if people want to come down on Saturday, observe, and be part of it, they can get walking a little bit and maybe watch the race next year and think, ‘Hey, maybe I can try this,’” Pinkowski said.  

Pinkowski said Galen Rupp participated in the inaugural Bank of America Chicago 13.1 in 2022 and enjoyed the course, noting how fast it was. Susannah Scaroni — the 2022 Bank of America Chicago Marathon winner who won the women’s wheelchair division also praised how fast the course is.  

“To traverse, starting in Garfield Park and Humboldt Park — these are beautiful parks. It’s exciting. I get out on the course and the support we get is incredible. People come out and cheer. For some people, it’s their first time seeing something like this, which I think is fascinating,” Pinkowski said.  

Pinkowski said some of the best athletes will be competing, including the entire University of Illinois Paralympic team. 

One of the key goals of Bank of America Chicago 13.1 was to inspire people to get active by creating a local event. Unlike larger races like the Chicago Marathon or Shamrock Shuffle, which take place on the lakefront, this event aims to offer world-class running experience within that part of the city, providing a platform for first-time runners to participate and engage. 

“We’ve had a lot of people who watched it the first year, worked at a water station, and are now running this year. We have about 5,800 people — 5,000 from Chicago and over 1,000 are running from the West Side,” Pinkowski said.  

For the latest information and updates, visit the Bank of America Chicago 13.1 website.