New York City Marathon

Location: New York City

Country:  United States
Website:  https://www.nyrr.org/tcsnycmarathon
2025 Marathon Date:  02/11/2025
2026 Marathon Date:  01/11/2026
Winning Time 2025: 2:08:09

% Sub-3s:  2-5%
# Sub-3s:  2,000-3,999
Total Runners: 50k+

The New York City Marathon is one of the most iconic and culturally charged races in the world, offering a challenging, undulating 26.2-mile journey through all five boroughs of New York City. The current five-borough route has been the defining feature of the race since 1976, transforming it from a small Central Park event into the global phenomenon it is today. Its rolling bridges, shifting neighbourhoods and overwhelming crowd support make it a race defined as much by atmosphere and narrative as by speed.

The race begins on Staten Island at Fort Wadsworth, where runners immediately confront the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge — the largest climb of the day and one of its most dramatic moments. After the sweeping descent, the marathon enters Brooklyn for its longest segment. From Bay Ridge through Sunset Park, Park Slope, Williamsburg and Greenpoint, the course follows wide, largely flat avenues lined with dense and energetic crowds. This stretch offers an early opportunity to settle into rhythm before the race’s terrain becomes more demanding.

Crossing the Pulaski Bridge into Queens marks the halfway point. A short passage through Long Island City leads to the long, quiet ascent of the Queensboro Bridge, a mentally testing section that precedes one of the race’s most famous moments: the explosive “wall of sound” that greets runners as they descend into Manhattan on First Avenue. The course then heads north into East Harlem before turning across the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx for a brief but lively mile. The return to Manhattan via the Madison Avenue Bridge signals the final phase.

The concluding miles along Fifth Avenue and into Central Park are among the course’s most challenging. A gradual but taxing climb on Fifth Avenue wears on fatigued legs before runners turn into Central Park at East 90th Street. The final undulating stretch delivers a fittingly dramatic finish near Tavern on the Green, surrounded by roaring crowds and autumn foliage.

The event’s roots trace back to 1970, when 127 runners tackled a multi-loop course contained entirely within Central Park. The five-borough expansion in 1976 catalysed its transformation into the world’s largest marathon, with minor course adjustments in the 1980s refining measurement accuracy. Today, the New York City Marathon remains a defining test — not typically fast, but unforgettable.