New York City Marathon 2026: Start Times, Route and How to Watch

The New York City Marathon returns on Sunday, November 1, with more than 60,000 runners from 140 countries expected on the 26.2 mile course through all five boroughs. The race starts at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and finishes in Central Park in Manhattan. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the five borough course, first run in 1976. A record 59,226 runners crossed the finish line in 2025, and organizers expect this year's field to pass that mark.

Runners also got one small gift overnight. Daylight saving time ended at 2 a.m. on Sunday, so clocks moved back one hour and the field woke up with an extra hour of sleep before the trip to the start.

Start times on Sunday

The professional wheelchair divisions open the morning. The men's wheelchair race starts at 8:00 a.m. ET and the women's at 8:02 a.m. Handcycle athletes and select para athletes follow at 8:22 a.m. The professional women start at 8:35 a.m. and the professional men at 9:05 a.m. The five mass participation waves then leave Fort Wadsworth at 9:10, 9:45, 10:20 and 10:55 a.m., with the last wave at 11:30 a.m.

Conditions at the start were cloudy and calm, with temperatures in the mid 40s and very little wind. Forecasters expect highs near 60 degrees by mid afternoon, when most of the field will still be on the course.

Defending champions return

All four professional winners from last year are back. Benson Kipruto won the men's race in 2025 by 0.16 seconds over Alexander Mutiso Munyao, the smallest margin in the race's history. Hellen Obiri won the women's race and broke the course record, finishing in 2:19:51.

In the wheelchair races, Marcel Hug returns after winning his seventh New York title last year. Susannah Scaroni makes a surprise return after giving birth to a baby boy in August. She is chasing a third straight wheelchair crown and a fourth in five years. Comedian and New York native Tracy Morgan serves as grand marshal of this year's race.

One course change in the Bronx

The route has one change this year, the first in 15 years. Organizers published an updated course map on October 31 with a reroute in the Bronx that uses East 135th Street, Alexander Avenue, East 141st Street, Third Avenue and East 138th Street before the Madison Avenue Bridge. Road and bridge closures run in stages across the city, and the upper level of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge closed late on Saturday night.

How to watch and follow runners

The national broadcast airs on ESPN2 from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET, with streaming on ESPN Unlimited. The official New York Road Runners app carries live runner tracking, leaderboards and uninterrupted feeds of the four professional races, so family and friends can follow a bib number from Staten Island to Central Park.

Winners of the professional races will be known by late morning. The bulk of the field finishes through the afternoon and into the evening, and the search interest that put this race near the top of United States trending lists on Sunday morning usually peaks again as the champions reach Central Park.