{"id":354033,"date":"2026-09-22T23:32:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354033\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T23:32:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T23:32:23","slug":"the-nyc-marathon-is-changing-its-course-for-the-first-time-in-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354033\/","title":{"rendered":"The NYC Marathon Is Changing Its Course for the First Time in 15 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re running the New York City Marathon<\/a> this fall and have every late-race turn committed to memory, there\u2019s one small section you\u2019ll need to relearn.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s race brings the first course tweak<\/a> in 15 years, though you\u2019d be forgiven for barely noticing it. The adjustment comes in the Bronx between miles 20 and 21, where runners will take a more direct trip through the borough before heading back into Manhattan.<\/p>\n

And honestly, two fewer turns at mile 20 probably won\u2019t generate many complaints from the 50,000+ runners on the course.<\/p>\n

Until now, everyone coming off the long First Avenue stretch and crossing the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx eventually made a short loop around a block near East 140th Street before working their way back toward the Madison Avenue Bridge. This year, you can say goodbye to that little detour.<\/p>\n

Instead, runners will continue north on Alexander Avenue to 141st Street, turn onto Third Avenue and then head south on 138th Street toward the Madison Avenue Bridge, trimming the Bronx portion of the marathon<\/a> from seven turns to five.<\/p>\n

The actual reason for the course tweak has very little to do with saving tired legs. The old route effectively boxed off a Western Beef supermarket and 24-hour laundromat for much of race day, making two heavily used neighborhood businesses difficult for nearby residents to reach. Jennifer Alicea, who lives in the area, told The New York Times<\/a>, \u201cThis is our only supermarket,\u201d and said trying to navigate the neighborhood around the race has become \u201ca real inconvenience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metellus told the Times that this year\u2019s required recertification gave NYRR an opportunity to rethink that stretch of the Bronx with input from city officials and people who live there. Metellus, who grew up in the Bronx, also noted the importance of maintaining access in an area where grocery options can already be limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some sensitivities to that because those sections of the Bronx are food deserts,\u201d he told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

The timing of it all does have a little extra significance, too. The November 1 race marks 50 years since the marathon first expanded beyond Central Park<\/a> and traveled through all five boroughs in 1976. Before that, runners were confined to Central Park<\/a> for four long loops.<\/p>\n

As for the overall 26.2-mile tour of New York, it remains very much intact, with runners still hitting all five boroughs and crossing back into Manhattan from the Bronx over the Madison Avenue Bridge.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll just get there with two fewer turns\u2014and without making grocery shopping quite so difficult for everyone else.<\/p>\n

Find Your Next Running Playlist\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Sean Abrams was the Senior Editor, Growth and Engagement at Men\u2019s Health. He\u2019s a former hip hop dancer who likes long walks on the beach and large glasses of tequila. You can find his previous work at Maxim, Elite Daily, and AskMen. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re running the New York City Marathon this fall and have every late-race turn committed to memory,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,132053,567,132052,569,83931,568,9,24,63,57826,132051,108292,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-354033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-collection-new-york-city-marathon","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-77d3d388-7ab6-4ede-a923-6288e13b7cf5","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-read_time-3","tag-shorttitle-explained-2026-nyc-marathon-route-change","tag-sponsored-false","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}