TCS New York City Marathon 2026

Sunday, 1 November 2026 · New York, United States

In the RunningChecked 2 October 2026Read the sources

Planning the trip? See how In the Running helps make it easier.

Getting to New York

Three airports serve the city. From JFK, the AirTrain runs to Jamaica and Howard Beach, where it meets the subway, and Jamaica also has the Long Island Rail Road. The Port Authority puts the AirTrain fare at $8.75. From Newark, the AirTrain takes you to the airport rail station, and NJ Transit trains reach New York Penn Station in about 30 minutes. LaGuardia has no train, but the free Q70 bus runs from Terminals B and C to the subway at Jackson Heights (the Roosevelt Avenue and 74 Street-Broadway station).

Amtrak trains from the rest of the United States arrive at Penn Station too. The organiser lists 34th Street to Penn Station as one of the stations near the expo.

Where to stay in New York

Pick a base by how you're getting to the start. The ferry leaves from Whitehall Terminal at the southern tip of Manhattan, so Lower Manhattan suits a ferry rider. The Midtown bus leaves from the New York Public Library using the entrance at Sixth Avenue and West 39th Street. Runners on the New Jersey bus board at MetLife Stadium, Lot K.

Plan your trip back after the finish as well. You leave Central Park at West 77th Street on the Upper West Side, and a pre-checked bag waits on Central Park West between West 73rd and 75th Streets. Walking times from any area aren't published.

Collecting your number

The expo is at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, on 11th Avenue between West 35th and 36th Streets. It's open from 10:00 to 20:00 on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October, with bib pickup closing at 19:30, and from 9:00 to 17:00 on Saturday 31 October, with bib pickup closing at 16:30.

The nearest station is 34th Street to Hudson Yards on the 7 train.

You choose a pickup slot in your dashboard until 16:00 on 31 October. Bring photo ID and your runner confirmation form. You must collect in person, because nobody can pick up for you. The organiser says Thursday from 10:00 to 12:00 and Friday from 10:00 to 14:00 are the busiest times.

Race morning

You travel the way you chose by 8 September, at the time you were given. Taking another option can get you a warning or a penalty, and if you never chose one, you're assigned whatever is left at the expo.

The Staten Island Ferry is free and leaves from Whitehall Terminal, reached by the 1 train to South Ferry or the R and W to Whitehall Street to South Ferry. It crosses to St. George, where free buses take you to Fort Wadsworth. Allow 90 minutes for the ferry and shuttle trip, as the organiser recommends. It allows the same time for the Midtown bus and 60 minutes for the New Jersey bus. Arrive 30 minutes before your assigned Midtown bus, or 15 minutes before the New Jersey bus.

A car or taxi can drop you at McClean Avenue and Ocean Avenue, about half a mile, 800 m, from the start villages. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge closes to all traffic at 7:00, so a car has to be through before then. There is no parking.

Your bib shows your wave, your colour and your corral. There are five waves, three colours (blue, orange and pink) and six corrals in each wave. Your colour tells you which start village to use. Corrals open and close at these times in 2026.

You can move to a later wave or corral, never an earlier one. The villages have more than 1,600 toilets, with coffee, tea and bagels while they last. The only bag allowed into Fort Wadsworth is the clear start village bag from the expo, so wear old layers. Drop them in the clothing bins, which go to the charity All of Us.

Bag pre-check or the poncho

No bag travels from the start to the finish. If you want your own clothes at the end, you pre-check a bag on Central Park West between West 73rd and 75th Streets on Friday 30 or Saturday 31 October, from 9:00 to 17:00. Only the official pre-check bag from the expo is accepted, and the choice had to be made in your dashboard by 8 September.

Every finisher gets a poncho in the post-finish area, whatever they chose. Pre-checked bags wait on Central Park West until about 19:00. After that they move to the NYRR RUNCENTER at 320 West 57th Street for collection on Monday 2 November.

The course

The course is 42.2 km, or 26.2 miles, and the organiser publishes no climb figure. The five bridges carry the course between boroughs. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge takes you from Staten Island into Brooklyn, and the course map draws a separate line for each start colour. The Pulaski Bridge reaches Queens at halfway, mile 13.1. The Queensboro Bridge brings you into Manhattan for First Avenue, miles 16 to 18. The Willis Avenue Bridge takes you into the Bronx, and the Madison Avenue Bridge brings you back. You enter Central Park after Fifth Avenue at miles 23 and 24.

The organiser's 2026 course map is a PDF with the subway lines beside the route, and it offers no course file to download.

In 2026 the Bronx section changes. After the Willis Avenue Bridge you turn onto East 135th Street and Alexander Avenue, then East 141st Street, Third Avenue and East 138th Street to the Madison Avenue Bridge.

Water and Gatorade are at every mile from mile 3 (4.8 km) to mile 25 (40.2 km), except miles 5, 7 and 9. Maurten gels are at miles 12 (19.3 km) and 18 (29.0 km), and bananas at mile 21 (33.8 km). Refill stations for your own bottle are at miles 8, 14, 17, 20 and 23. Toilets are at every mile from mile 3.

The streets stay open to anyone holding 16 minutes a mile, about 9:57 a kilometre, from the 11:30 start of wave 5. Slower runners may be moved to the pavement or offered the sweep bus. Anyone finishing by 22:00 gets an official result.

Where to watch

Weather in New York in November

These are the last five race days at Fort Wadsworth, at 9:00, the hour of the first wave, and at 13:00. The 2020 race was virtual, so the table starts in 2021.

Four of the five mornings were between 5.3 °C and 9.7 °C, and 2022 was the outlier at 19.9 °C. The temperature rose by 3.7 to 6.1 °C by 13:00, when the later waves are still running.

Afterwards

After the line you get a medal, the poncho and a recovery bag. You walk out of the park at West 77th Street onto Central Park West, and can leave the runners-only area at West 76th, 75th or 74th Street. The organiser warns that the crowd can overload the phone network near the finish, so agree a meeting point first.

Family Reunion runs on West 69th to 71st Streets from 11:00 to 18:00, with letters by surname. A to F are on West 71st, G to N on West 70th and O to Z on West 69th. The organiser suggests your family arrive 20 to 30 minutes after your expected finish.

Other race weekends

TCS New York City Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. The series' other races with a guide here are Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, TCS London Marathon, Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, TCS Sydney Marathon, Berlin Marathon and Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

The next races with a guide

Toulouse Marathon1 November 2026 · Toulouse, France Indianapolis Monumental Marathon7 November 2026 · Indianapolis, United States Athens Marathon8 November 2026 · Athens, Greece

All race weekend guides

Sources

Written from the organiser's published information and the app's own race data, checked on 2 October 2026.

If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us.