United Airlines NYC Half Marathon

Course & Elevation

The United Airlines NYC Half is a 13.1-mile road race run by New York Road Runners (NYRR) on a Sunday morning in March. The organisers describe it as a park-to-park course from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan. In 2026 it started near the Brooklyn Museum, ran through Prospect Park and down Flatbush Avenue, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, and continued up the FDR Drive and through Times Square to the finish in Central Park. The Brooklyn Bridge has been part of the course since 2025, and NYRR says the race is the only one ever to run across it. Times Square, which NYRR says is closed to traffic only twice a year, is on the route, and the Times Square Kids Run is held alongside the adult race. Entry is by drawing: runners can apply or claim guaranteed entry in an autumn window, and the drawing follows. The race began in 2006 as a Manhattan race in August, became a spring event in 2010, adopted a Brooklyn-to-Manhattan course in 2018 and moved to the Brooklyn Bridge in 2025. The 2026 edition was the largest half marathon in NYRR history, with 30,229 finishers. The race is one of the signature events of the NYRR Five-Borough Series, and the 2027 edition starts at 7:00 am.