The New York City Marathon course, mile by mile

Five boroughs, five bridges, and more than 800 feet of climbing. The fiftieth running of the five-borough course, with a Bronx mile nobody has raced. Sunday November 1.

Miles 0 to 2: Don't win the bridge

Staten Island, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The gun goes and the first mile is uphill, about 150 feet to the top of the span, usually into wind off the harbour. The second mile gives nearly 200 feet back as you drop into Brooklyn. Expect to be 30 to 45 seconds slow on mile one and fast on mile two, and let both happen. There are no spectators and no fluids up here. Five waves leave between 9:10 and 11:30, in three colours that take different sides of the bridge.

Miles 2 to 8: Five straight miles, and all of Brooklyn out to watch

Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Park Slope: Fourth Avenue. Fourth Avenue runs dead straight and gently rolling for five miles, with crowds on both sides the whole way. This is where you find your pace and where most people run too fast, because it feels easy and it's loud. The three start colours stay on separate sides of the avenue and merge around mile 8, at the turn onto Flatbush and Lafayette. Water and Gatorade start at mile 3 and come every mile to 25, except miles 5, 7 and 9.

Miles 8 to 13.1: Brownstones, then bands, then halfway

Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, Greenpoint. Lafayette Avenue is tree-lined, narrower, and climbs about 50 feet over half a mile before it lets you down. Then it's north up Bedford Avenue through Williamsburg, where the bands play on the sidewalks, into Greenpoint. The Pulaski Bridge is a short, steep 50 feet and the halfway mat is on it. Check the clock there, not your watch.

Miles 13.1 to 16: The quiet before the noise

Long Island City, the Queensboro Bridge. Queens is brief and thin on crowd: a good place for a full check of fuel, fluid and form. Then the Queensboro. It climbs about 100 feet over three quarters of a mile on the lower deck, there are no spectators, and after two hours of noise you can suddenly hear everyone's shoes. People call it the wall before the wall. Run it on effort, shorten your stride, and don't pound the downhill on the far side.

Miles 16 to 21: The wall of sound, and the trap

First Avenue, East Harlem, the Bronx. You turn off the bridge onto First Avenue and it's the loudest moment in road running: crowds ten deep, a wide avenue tilting gently downhill, three miles of it. This is where races are lost, by people who feel wonderful at 16 and run their fastest mile at 17. Gels are at mile 18. Past 96th Street the crowd thins and the grind begins. The Willis Avenue Bridge at 19.5 takes you into the Bronx for about a mile and a half. New for 2026: a left on East 135th Street, right up Alexander Avenue, left on East 141st, down Third Avenue, right on East 138th to the Madison Avenue Bridge. Nobody has raced those turns yet.

Miles 21 to 26.2: The climb, the park, the circle, the line

Harlem, Fifth Avenue, Central Park. Down Fifth Avenue through Harlem and around Marcus Garvey Park, and then the hardest stretch of the course: from 110th Street to 86th, nearly a mile, Fifth Avenue climbs about 100 feet beside the park wall. It doesn't look like a hill. Break it into blocks. You enter the park at 90th Street and the road rolls, with crowds back in force. Out onto Central Park South at mile 25.5, round Columbus Circle, back into the park, one small rise, and the finish is on West Drive by 67th Street.

The facts

• Date: Sunday November 1, 2026. Fifty years of the five-borough course.
• Start: Staten Island, at the foot of the Verrazzano. Five waves, 9:10 to 11:30.
• Finish: Central Park, West Drive near 67th Street.
• Shape: Point to point: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, Manhattan again.
• Elevation: More than 800 feet of climbing. The Verrazzano is about 150, the Queensboro about 100, Fifth Avenue about 100.
• Field: About 60,000 runners from more than 100 countries.
• Records: Tamirat Tola, 2:04:58, 2023. Hellen Obiri, 2:19:51, 2025.
• Time limit: Sweep buses follow at 16 minutes a mile from the last wave.

Aid

Water and Gatorade Endurance every mile from mile 3 to mile 25, except miles 5, 7 and 9. Gels at mile 18. Nothing on the Verrazzano. Sweep buses follow the course at 16 minutes a mile from the final wave; anyone who boards one is taken to the finish area and isn't recorded as a finisher.

Where to watch

• Mile 4: Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn. R train stops along the avenue.
• Mile 11: Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg. L train to Bedford Av.
• Mile 17: First Avenue in the 70s and 80s. Q train on Second Avenue, or the 4, 5, 6 on Lexington.
• Mile 23: Fifth Avenue in the 90s, on the climb, where a shout matters most.
• Mile 26: Columbus Circle. A, B, C, D or 1 train to 59th Street.

Five things

• The first mile is uphill and the second is down. Let both happen.
• Brooklyn is 11 miles long. Whatever pace feels easy on Fourth Avenue, go slower.
• Use the Queensboro. It's the only quiet you'll get: check everything.
• First Avenue will lie to you. Hold the pace you had in Brooklyn.
• The race is Fifth Avenue, 110th to 86th. Save something for it.

If you're going

• Getting to the start: Staten Island Ferry or the official buses, hours before your wave. Dress warm for the wait.
• Where to stay: Anywhere near a subway line. The finish is at 67th Street on the west side.
• The weather: Early November: usually 40s to 50s, and it's the wind on the bridges that matters.
• After: A long, slow walk north out of the park before you can leave it. Plan where to meet.

The map is a drawing from the published route, not a street map. Sources: New York Road Runners: course, start, health and safety, and the 2026 Bronx route announcement; CBS New York and NY1 on the 2026 Bronx changes, September 2026; Marathon Handbook, NYC course breakdown; RunReady course guide (bridge and Fifth Avenue elevations); Course records: World Athletics and NYRR (Tola 2023, Obiri 2025).