NEAR WEST SIDE — Chicago is prepared to host nearly 40,000 runners and more than a million spectators Sunday at the 40th annual Chicago Marathon, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday.
After participating in a planning exercise designed to put the finishing touches on a year of planning for marathon, Emanuel said officials were "prepared for any eventuality."
City officials — led by Alicia Tate-Nadeau, the executive director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management — reviewed their contingency plans in the event of an attack from an elevated position along the 26.1-mile route after the mass shooting in Las Vegas that injured nearly 600 people.
From a high-rise hotel, a gunman opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday killing at least 59 people and wounding approximately 527 people, prompting renewed calls for tough restrictions on high-capacity guns.
However, Tate-Nadeau said no specific changes to the marathon's security plan has been made in the wake of the attack, one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history.
Emanuel said the entire course would be placed in a "security envelope" — and urged Chicagoans to contact authorities if they see something that seems amiss.
While acknowledging that some spectators and runners might be nervous about attending such a high-profile event after the attack in Las Vegas, Emanuel said he would not alter his plans to attend and cheer on his son, Zach, who he said plans to run the marathon to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
