TCS New York City Marathon
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2026 edition held Nov 1, 2026
Next edition expected
Usually October
2027 date not yet confirmed
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The TCS New York City Marathon is New York Road Runners' annual marathon through all five boroughs of New York City, held on the first Sunday of November. The point-to-point course starts at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, crosses the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn, then continues through Queens and up Manhattan's East Side to the Bronx before returning to Manhattan and finishing in Central Park near West 67th Street. Along the way runners cross five bridges, among them the Queensboro, Willis Avenue and Madison Avenue bridges. Start times are staggered in waves through the morning, and the finish line stays open until the evening. The first New York City Marathon was held in Central Park on 13 September 1970, with 127 entrants and 55 finishers. The route first ran through the five boroughs on 24 October 1976, as part of the US bicentennial. In 2025 the race recorded 59,226 finishers, which NYRR reported as the largest marathon ever at the time; London passed that figure in April 2026. The men's course record is 2:04:58, set by Tamirat Tola in 2023, and the women's is 2:19:51, set by Hellen Obiri in 2025. Entry is mainly through an NYRR drawing, alongside guaranteed routes such as time qualifiers and the 9+1 programme for NYRR members. In 2026 the course changed for the first time in 15 years, with a small reroute in the Bronx after the Willis Avenue Bridge.
Typical climate for the race month — an estimate, not a forecast or a race-day record
Early November in New York is cool: average highs in Central Park are about 12°C and lows about 6°C, with rain on roughly nine days of the month.
The Race
New York City
The first New York City Marathon took place on 13 September 1970 and was run entirely inside Central Park, organised by Fred Lebow and NYRR president Vince Chiappetta. The entry fee was $1, the budget $1,000, and 55 of 127 registered runners finished. In its early years the race was a local event; the New York Times describes it as four laps around the park.
In 1976 civil servant and runner George Spitz proposed a marathon through all five boroughs. According to the New York Times, it was pitched to the mayor as a one-time attraction for the US bicentennial, and Ted Corbitt designed the course with a finish in Central Park. NYRR took the race out of the park and into the streets of the five boroughs that year, with 2,090 runners.
In 2025 Hellen Obiri won in 2:19:51, breaking a course record that had stood for 22 years, and the NYRR press release marked her second New York title. The men's race was decided by three hundredths of a second, with Benson Kipruto beating Alexander Mutiso. Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola holds the men's course record of 2:04:58, set in 2023.
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02:04:58
Tamirat Tola (2023)
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