New York City Marathon Returns Sunday With Five Boroughs and About 60,000 Runners
The TCS New York City Marathon will be run on Sunday, November 1, 2026, over 26.2 miles through all five boroughs of New York City, according to New York Road Runners, the organizer of the race.
The race begins on Staten Island and finishes in Central Park in Manhattan. New York Road Runners lists the event start as 8 a.m. on its race page and notes that event information is subject to change.
This year’s race marks 50 years since the marathon first took in all five boroughs in 1976, according to Marathon Handbook and Fox 5 New York. The first five-borough edition was run on October 24, 1976, Marathon Handbook reported.
About 60,000 runners are expected to take part, according to the New York Post, FloTrack and Marathon Handbook. The New York Post reported on October 28 that more than 60,000 runners will run and that about two million spectators are expected along the route.
The professional wheelchair races are scheduled to start first on Sunday morning, followed by the professional women’s race at 8:35 a.m. and the professional men’s race at 9:05 a.m., according to coverage of the official schedule by Marathon Handbook and Outside Online. The general field is scheduled to start in five waves, beginning at 9:10 a.m. and continuing at 9:45 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 10:55 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Race morning will also bring a change of clocks. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, so clocks move back one hour before the start, according to Marathon Handbook and Outside Online.
From the start at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, runners cross the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn, Marathon Handbook reported. The course then runs north through Brooklyn, passes briefly through Queens and crosses the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan.
After running up First Avenue in Manhattan, runners cross into the Bronx and then return to Manhattan along Fifth Avenue before entering Central Park for the finish, according to Marathon Handbook.
One part of the course is different this year. Fox 5 New York reported that New York Road Runners has changed the Bronx section for the first time in 15 years to reduce congestion as the neighborhood has changed. After crossing the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx, runners turn onto East 135th Street and then Alexander Avenue, continue to East 141st Street and then turn onto Third Avenue before returning to Manhattan over the Madison Avenue Bridge, Fox 5 New York reported.
For spectators, watching from the street along the course is free, except at the start village on Staten Island and on the bridges, which are closed to spectators, Marathon Handbook reported. The grandstand at the finish in Central Park is ticketed, and spectators without a ticket can watch along Central Park South and around Columbus Circle, Marathon Handbook reported.
Travel across the city will be disrupted on race day. The New York Post reported that the upper level of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will close at 11 p.m. on Saturday and the lower level at 7 a.m. on Sunday. The Queensboro Bridge will close at 6:30 a.m., the Pulaski Bridge at 7:15 a.m. and the Willis and Madison Avenue bridges at 7:30 a.m., the New York Post reported, citing city officials.
The New York Post also reported that there is no set time for those bridges to reopen and that traffic will resume as the final runners clear each section. Drivers should expect rolling closures and heavy delays near the route and are encouraged to use mass transit, the New York Post reported, citing the city transportation commissioner.
Spectators in Central Park will be subject to bag inspections, the New York Post reported. Coolers, oversized bags, chairs, umbrellas and weapons are among the prohibited items listed in that report.
Television coverage in the United States is scheduled on ESPN2 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., with local coverage in the New York area on ABC7, according to Outside Online and Marathon Handbook. The New York Road Runners app will offer live runner tracking and coverage of the professional races, Outside Online reported.
Charity running is also a large part of this year’s race. Marathon Handbook reported on October 29 that New York Road Runners said charity runners had already raised more than 100 million dollars for nonprofits before race day, a record for the race’s charity program, with more than 670 official charity partners.
The forecast for race day remained subject to change at the time of writing. Weather.com forecast partly cloudy conditions in New York on Sunday, November 1, with a high of 63 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 50 degrees, as of October 29.
The exact final number of starters has not been confirmed by New York Road Runners in the material reviewed for this preview. The figure of about 60,000 runners used in this article is the expected field reported by the outlets cited above.
