The 50th anniversary of the TCS New York City Marathon takes place on Nov. 1 and will weave through the city’s five boroughs, but one iconic stretch is changing. The New York Times reported that the seven-turn, one-mile stretch through the Bronx is losing two turns to provide access to two businesses that are often closed to a large apartment complex on race day. Despite losing a couple of turns, the Bronx route will remain a mile long, and the change may benefit racers and residents alike.
The adjustment
The route will still manoeuvre through Manhattan’s East Side and into the Bronx, crossing the Willis Avenue Bridge into the borough. Repeat racers will still approach the familiar left onto East 135th Street and then right onto Alexander Avenue, but instead of another left onto 138th Street, runners will go a few streets farther, toward East 141st Street and turn left there. Then you’ll make another left onto Third Avenue, followed by one final right onto East 138th Street before heading across Madison Avenue Bridge and back toward Central Park for an iconic finish.
This change comes where runners tend to start experiencing “the wall,” just past the halfway point around kilometres 31 to 34. The stretch through the Bronx is often considered one of the most difficult, with runners hitting the wall and having to adjust their pace repeatedly through seven turns. Now, with two fewer turns, the nearly 60,000 runners may feel a bit less strain as they approach the final stretch of the race.
The course was last adjusted in 2011. Runners entering Brooklyn from the Verrazzano Bridge were routed around a residential block before reaching the Bay Ridge Parkway. It was the first time runners didn’t go straight from the bridge to the Parkway.
Mutually beneficial alteration
The route adjustment is relatively small and, if anything, will make the course feel even faster for racers. While the adjustment should benefit participants, the change was made with local residents in mind. Nearly 1,800 apartments (also known as the Patterson Houses) are located across from Morris Avenue, and the race blocks them from accessing a Western Beef supermarket and a 24-hour laundromat.
Elite men at the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon. Photo: Kevin Morris
New York Road Runners race director Ted Metellus (who is originally from the Bronx) told the Times that the course was already up for recertification this year, making it the perfect opportunity to make the adjustment and put those two businesses back within reach of residents. Road races in the U.S. are certified every 10 years to remain eligible for records and qualifying times, and 2026 marked when the Bronx stretch was due for a renewed measurement from USA Track and Field. Still, Metellus said the adjustment’s main goal was to give residents access to a grocery store in an area with limited options.
“I had some sensitivities to that,” Metellus said, “because those sections of the Bronx are food deserts.”