Five Boroughs, Fifty Years: Why the NYC Marathon Is Having a Moment

On Sunday, nearly 60,000 runners will cross the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and race through five boroughs to Central Park. The route is familiar, but this year the buzz is louder than usual, and the reasons are worth unpacking.

An idea nobody thought would work

The marathon began in 1970 as four laps of Central Park with 55 finishers. The leap came in 1976, when Percy Sutton announced on June 21 that the race would move beyond the park and through all five boroughs. Even race director Fred Lebow was initially skeptical that an event of that scale could be pulled off. The Bicentennial one-off was a hit, and what was meant as a single celebration became the annual course.

That origin explains the character of the race. It was built to show a city to itself, and it still does.

A day that belongs to the city

Few races compare with the size of it. The 2025 edition set a world record for the largest marathon ever, with 59,226 finishers, and more than 2 million spectators line the route. It is also a fundraising engine. In 2025, more than 14,000 charity runners raised $80 million for over 600 charities.

For endurance athletes the appeal is that a mid-pack runner and an Olympic medalist share the same roads, the same bridges and the same noise in Brooklyn.

What makes 2026 different

It's a milestone. The race marks 50 years since the five-borough move, and 50 years since the introduction of a professional elite field. Organizers have also set a goal of raising more than $100 million for charity partners, with over 670 charities, the most in the race's history.

The men's race is a rivalry. Conner Mantz, the American record holder at 2:04:43, faces Zouhair Talbi, whose 2:03:45 in Boston in April is the fastest marathon ever run by an American. Defending champion Benson Kipruto returns after winning last year by three hundredths of a second, the smallest margin in race history. Former champions Geoffrey Kamworor and Abdi Nageeye are also in the field.

The women's race lost a headline name. Sifan Hassan and Fiona O'Keeffe have withdrawn, but Hellen Obiri defends her title. She broke the course record last year in 2:19:51, and has since run a 2:15:53 personal best in London. Weini Kelati, the American half marathon record holder, makes her marathon debut.

So why the hype?

It's partly the stories. The two fastest Americans ever are on one start line, a defending champion won by a blink, and a half marathon record holder is stepping up in distance.

It's partly the course. New York isn't a fast, flat, record-friendly route, and this one isn't record-eligible. That makes it a race of tactics and nerve rather than pacers and clocks, which is why people love it. The course also crosses five bridges and, for the first time in 15 years, changes in the Bronx.

And it's partly the timing. A 50-year anniversary, a record-sized field and a charity milestone all land on the same Sunday, with broadcast coverage on ESPN2 and ABC.

For anyone who loves endurance sport, the takeaway is that the biggest marathon in the world is still, at heart, a community project that a few stubborn people dreamed up half a century ago.

Race Day Update

This section will be updated after the race finishes, with the final results.