TCS New York City Marathon 2018

© © 2017 TCS New York City Marathon

Short review

What started as a race with 55 finishers, now is the world's biggest marathon with 51,000 runners. The New York City Marathon is a must in the life of any marathon runner.

The first event was held in 1970 in Central Park with the entry fee of 1$. Out of 120 participants, only 55 finished and were given inexpensive wristwatches and recycled baseball and bowling trophies as a reward.

The history of this event is rich and interesting. In 1976, race director Fred Lebow and 2,090 entrants took the New York City Marathon to the of the five boroughs in a moving celebration of sport and diversity. In 1978 Grete Waitz, a track Olympian who’d never run farther than 12 miles, won the race in a world-record 2:32:30. The 1992 race produced perhaps the most poignant moment in New York City Marathon history when Lebow, in remission from brain cancer, crossed the line in 5:32:34 with Waitz by his side.

The 2016 TCS New York City Marathon had an absolute record number of finishers – 51,394, setting a new mark as the largest marathon in the world.

4 reasons to go
  • Major event
  • The volunteers are comically kind
  • Exceptionally well-organized
  • The starting area is great
3 reasons not to go
  • Very crowded
  • Hard to get to the start
  • Some hills
Registration open
Register now

Road Running

Distance:

Marathon

Price:

from $255

Type of Surface:

asphalt

Type of Terrain:

city

Major

Charity

Organized since 1970

Short review

What started as a race with 55 finishers, now is the world's biggest marathon with 51,000 runners. The New York City Marathon is a must in the life of any marathon runner.

The first event was held in 1970 in Central Park with the entry fee of 1$. Out of 120 participants, only 55 finished and were given inexpensive wristwatches and recycled baseball and bowling trophies as a reward.

The history of this event is rich and interesting. In 1976, race director Fred Lebow and 2,090 entrants took the New York City Marathon to the of the five boroughs in a moving celebration of sport and diversity. In 1978 Grete Waitz, a track Olympian who’d never run farther than 12 miles, won the race in a world-record 2:32:30. The 1992 race produced perhaps the most poignant moment in New York City Marathon history when Lebow, in remission from brain cancer, crossed the line in 5:32:34 with Waitz by his side.

The 2016 TCS New York City Marathon had an absolute record number of finishers – 51,394, setting a new mark as the largest marathon in the world.

4 reasons to go
  • Major event
  • The volunteers are comically kind
  • Exceptionally well-organized
  • The starting area is great
3 reasons not to go
  • Very crowded
  • Hard to get to the start
  • Some hills

1 Road Running races on 13 April 2018 in New York City

TCS New York City Marathon

42.195 km

from $255

50000 runners

usually take part in the race

42.195 km run course map

42.195 km

Weather for Apr 13, 2018

°F

Wind: m/s.

.

Very Good for running

Powered by Dark Sky

What to wear on your run?

Contacts of the organizers & official website

New York Road Runners NYRR RUNCENTER: 320 West 57th Street New York, NY 10019
Corporate address: 156 West 56th Street, 3rd fl. New York, NY 10019

We recommend checking the official website for up-to-date information.

The information about TCS New York City Marathon is based on information provided by the organizers or found on the official website of the event.

If you have noticed any mistake, please let us know at

[email protected]

Best reviews

user avatar
Phil H. from yelp.com

The NYC Marathon is a spectacle, and one event that is so part of the fabric of this city.

Expect 50,000 runners today. Road closings throughout the five boroughs along the course, and many supporters along the way cheering on friends and family who are running.

NYRR does a great job organizing the race with many terrific volunteers helping. I ran in their Abbott Dash 5K yesterday as part of the marathon weekend and it got me pumped to start training for this 26.2 miles! There is so much energy and excitement the days leading up to the race. Even the 5K had 10,000 runners!

I just chee... Show full review
red on the wheelchair athletes along 1st Ave on the UES as they whizzed by. So cool.

Big props to my friends and all that participate in this race as the training takes so much determination and motivation. It's not about how fast you run, or setting a PR, it's about crossing that finish line and savoring the sweet taste of success for a job well done. Fast or slow doesn't matter as you're all winners.
user avatar
Marianne W. from yelp.com

Today is the big day. My daughter ran the NYC Marathon one year. The long months of training are brutal. I give credit to anyone with the ability and endurance to complete a marathon. How long you take is not important. Reaching the finish line is the goal!
People come from all over the world to be here this day. It's humid and chance of showers this marathon. At least it's not brutally cold. I pray for everyone's good health and safety.
I'm posting a photo of my Yelp Friend Gerry. He's now retired from running marathon races. He ran the Chicago Marathon 12 consecutive years! I wish he was... Show full review
here to run or at least be a spectator. The runners go right by my street. We could meet for a bagel! Hey if you're not running you can eat!!
To all my Yelp Friends that run races. It's not how far or fast, it's finishing that's important!
Fly on the wings of Angels! If you're watching today you may see me cheering for the athletes!!
user avatar
Justine C. from yelp.com from yelp.com

I'm finally getting around to writing a long overdue review of the 2016 NY marathon--my second time running it! I think everyone's already done a great job reviewing how amazing the overall experience is, so I'll focus on the boring (but crucial) logistical elements, since I was unnecessarily stressed out before the run because I didn't do enough research on getting to and from the race.

According to my emails, I found out that I won the NY marathon lottery in early March 2016, and I received an email a month later saying that I needed to choose my transportation and baggage options. I wa... Show full review
sn't really paying any attention to marathon emails since the race was still 7 months off, so I didn't sign up for anything until May. Don't do what I did! By the time I registered for my transportation, I think most of the prime slots were already filled.

Since I was in Wave 3 with a 10:40am start, I opted for the 8:15am ferry, which I naively assumed would get me to the start line with plenty of time to spare. Boy was I wrong! Getting onto the ferry was relatively smooth sailing. I stayed downtown, took an uber to the ferry building (which was very easy to find), and I waited less than 10 minutes before the next ferry arrived. The ferries were plenty big, so everyone waiting in the building was able to get on, and there was plenty of room on the ferry so I didn't feel crowded at all. Btw, there was absolutely no system of checking what time ferry you're registered for, so I think I could easily have walked onto an earlier ferry had I known. The ferry ride was an easy ~30 minutes or so.

However, once we got off the ferry in Staten Island, the experience quickly changed to TERRIBLE. We were literally herded through the terminal station in a massive crowd that was barely inching along. It took over an hour to get through the terminal station, only to find that this experience ended in another LONG line to get onto the buses to take us to the marathon start line. Overall, it took us almost 2 hours hours once we stepped off the ferry to get to the marathon start village, and from there it was still a bit of a distance to our Wave start. So essentially, we were on our feet for over TWO hours before we started the race and this whole ordeal ended in a mad sprint to our wave start. We had just arrived at the start line when the gun sounded for us to start.

If I ever do the NY marathon again (which I hope I do!), I'll allot at least 4 hours to get to the start line! Also as a side note, wear lots of layers that you're OK discarding to the start line. The organizers were really generous about the pre-race foil blankets, but it was still pretty cold. Runners were shedding clothing left and right as the race started, and someone told me that all of the discards would be donated to charities.

The logistics after the race were tough too, although less stressful since I wasn't on a schedule. I had originally intended to take a subway back to my destination, but my legs were unsurprisingly feeling really wobbly so I decided to try to uber instead. After what felt like miles of being herded from the marathon finish line to the park exit, I tried to order multiple ubers and lyfts only to find that they were running insane surcharges upwards of three figures to get me back to where I was staying downtown. In desperation and exhaustion, I went ahead and agreed to the surcharge, only to have the cars cancel on me one after another. Luckily I remembered that I had just downloaded GetTaxi the day before based on the recommendation of an NY friend, and I was able to order a GetTaxi that picked me up without a surcharge a few blocks away from the park. Overall, it took me over 1.5 hours to get from the marathon finish into my post-race transportation, and I didn't anticipate on the fact that it would already be dark!

Video about running race