Nearly 850 Runners Complete Chicago's Chinatown 5K Despite Air Quality Warnings -

More than 850 runners joined the 20th anniversary of the Chinatown 5K on Saturday, undeterred by days of hazardous air quality that caused cancellations of many outdoor events in Chicago.

On Thursday, smoke from Canadian wildfires cloaked the Chicago area in a thick, uncanny haze. Government agencies issued health warnings and urged people to stay indoors. Although conditions improved by Friday afternoon, some parks and venues remained closed.

Race organizers with the Chinatown nonprofit Project: Vision monitored the air quality and weather until early Saturday morning ahead of the 5K’s 8 a.m. start time, followed by a 9 a.m. youth run.

Karen Chiu, founder and executive director for Project: Vision, said organizers “were juggling excitement with close monitoring. The team worked to weigh the risks and benefits of keeping it going versus canceling.”

A runner pauses to high-five her son during Saturday’s Project: Vision’s Chinatown 5K in Chinatown.

The race is Project Vision’s biggest fundraiser of the year. As of Saturday, it had raised nearly $35,000 in online donations for underserved Asian American youth in the Chinatown area.

The event costs about $40,000 to organize, so canceling it would have made it hard for the small nonprofit to recoup expenses, Chiu said.

“It was definitely a little stressful,” said Sandy Ruan, Project: Vision’s director of strategic initiatives. “The team worked really hard to address the challenges. I’m glad it worked out.”

Project: Vision supports Asian American youth who are low-income, first- and second-generation immigrants, first in their family to potentially attend college, attend public school and who have academic challenges.

Jason Lin (second from left) takes off from the starting line of Saturday’s Chinatown 5K in Chinatown, which he wound up winning in a time of 17 minutes 23 seconds.

Although Chinatown is among Chicago’s most underserved neighborhoods, its youth are often overlooked due in part to the “model minority” stereotype of Asian Americans, said Chiu last year.

Cindy Liang, a rising senior at Jones College Prep in the South Loop, volunteered at the race on Saturday morning. She has been a Project: Vision member since seventh grade and has joined its after-school tutoring programs.

“It’s a great community space as well. You can reach out to them for help, for academics or anything,” Liang said.

Most Project: Vision youth members live in greater Chinatown, including Armour Square, Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Brighton Park and surrounding neighborhoods.

In Armour Square, which includes Chinatown, nearly 25% of the population lived below the poverty rate in 2024, according to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University.

Jason Lin, 28, won the Chinatown 5K with a time of 17 minutes 23 seconds. He monitored race updates but wasn’t very worried about air quality.

Lin said Chicago’s Chinatown is “an important cultural space,” especially because there wasn’t one where he grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He donated to Project: Vision and also got his company to match.

Erin Chan Ding lives in South Barrington and has run the Chinatown 5K six times. She recalled running previous races while pushing her toddlers in a stroller. Her kids, now high school students, were at their own track meets Saturday morning.

A female runner holds her medal near a race finish line. — Erin Chan Ding of South Barrington shows off her medal after running in Saturday’s Chinatown 5K despite the bad air quality in Chicago in the days before the race.

“It’s such a fun race. You run through the heart of Chinatown and support youth,” she said.

The course included Chinatown Christian Union Church on South Wentworth Avenue, which Chan Ding attended while growing up.

Cheering spectators lining Chinatown’s streets kept her motivated. “When I get tired, I think about all the youths running alongside us,” she said. Although the air cleared up, Saturday’s weather “didn’t take away the humidity,” she laughed. By 9 a.m., it was 84 degrees.

Runner Judy Choi was concerned about air quality before the race and wasn’t sure the event would go on. Choi, 60, lives in Phoenix but grew up in Uptown and West Rogers Park. It was her 12th time running the Chinatown 5K.

She has fond memories of going to Chinatown while growing up, so the 5K has special significance for her. “It was so different in the ’70s,” she said. Few people had cars and there were more recent Chinese immigrants. “The moms would play mahjong and make treats,” Choi recalled.

Her husband, Raymond Choi, grew up in Bridgeport and also ran the 5K. The couple flew in to Chicago on Saturday around 5 a.m., in time for the race.

The air quality is worse in Phoenix, where there’s often a brown haze, said Raymond Choi, 63. “This is fine,” he said about Chicago’s air on Saturday, a few minutes after crossing the finish line.

A man and woman in summer running clothes stand on a green lawn. — Chicago natives Judy Choi and Raymond Choi, who flew in from Phoenix for the event, are all smiles after the Chinatown 5K, even though Judy fell and had to be bandaged up near the finish line.

Judy Choi fell during the race and got bandages at an ambulance near the finish. “I continued running,” Choi said. “That’s what Chicagoans do. You get up. We’re strong people.”

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Approximately 850 runners crossed the finish line at Chicago’s 20th annual Chinatown 5K on Saturday, pressing forward with the race even as hazardous air quality had forced other regional outdoor events to postpone. The adult division started at 8 a.m., with a youth race beginning an hour later.

Smoke originating from Canadian wildfires had blanketed the Chicago region by Thursday, reducing visibility significantly and prompting public health officials to caution residents against extended outdoor activity. While air conditions improved by Friday afternoon, numerous event organizers opted to cancel as an added safety measure.

Project: Vision, the Chinatown organization hosting the event, made a final determination early Saturday morning after reviewing air quality metrics and weather forecasts. The group’s founder and executive director, Karen Chiu, acknowledged the weight of the decision. “We were managing both our enthusiasm and our concerns,” she said.

The 5K serves as Project: Vision’s primary annual fundraising mechanism for assisting economically disadvantaged Asian American youth in the community. Pledges and donations accumulated to nearly $35,000 by race day, supporting the organization’s mission to serve first-generation and second-generation immigrant students and those who would be the first in their families to pursue higher education.

Staging the event requires approximately $40,000 in expenditures, a significant cost for the nonprofit organization. Sandy Ruan, the group’s strategic planning director, emphasized the difficult balance between safety and financial sustainability. “It was definitely challenging,” Ruan said of the deliberation process.

Jason Lin, 28, claimed first place with a winning time of 17 minutes and 23 seconds. Lin made a personal monetary contribution and secured additional matching donations from his employer to support the cause.

Repeat participant Erin Chan Ding of South Barrington has finished the race on six previous occasions. Though her teenage children were competing at track events elsewhere Saturday, she has previously completed the course while pushing younger children in strollers. “It’s such an enjoyable experience,” Chan Ding remarked, highlighting the route through Chinatown’s neighborhoods and the opportunity to benefit youth development initiatives.

Judy Choi, 60, made the trip from Phoenix to participate for the 12th time in the event. The longtime runner grew up in Chicago’s Uptown and West Rogers Park neighborhoods and maintains nostalgic connections to Chinatown from her earlier years. “It was markedly different during the 1970s,” she reflected, noting fewer automobiles and larger concentrations of recent Chinese immigrants inhabiting the area.

Her husband, Raymond Choi, 63, a Bridgeport native, also ran the 5K on Saturday. The couple arrived approximately 5 a.m. to prepare for the start. Raymond observed that Saturday’s air quality appeared manageable relative to the smog conditions he regularly encounters in Phoenix and completed the race without incident.

Judy Choi fell during the race but received immediate assistance from medical staff stationed along the course and resumed running shortly thereafter. She characterized her experience as emblematic of Chicago’s resilient character. “That’s the Chicago way,” Choi said. “You rise up. We possess fortitude.”

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