03 / Course & training
Why New York is a genuinely hard course
New York's men's course record, 2:04:58, is noticeably slower than the flat majors: Berlin's 2:01:09, Chicago's 2:00:35, London's 1:59:30. That gap is not a weaker field. It is the course. Runners climb the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge at the start, a roughly 4 percent grade over three-quarters of a mile, then face four more bridges before the finish: the Pulaski into Queens, the Queensboro into Manhattan, and the Willis Avenue and Madison Avenue bridges through the Bronx. None of them are mountains, but five of them, spread across 26.2 miles, add up.
The course also saves a sting for late in the race: a climb up Fifth Avenue around mile 23, exactly where fatigue is highest and there is the least margin left to absorb another hill.
Famous winners and defining moments
New York's most distinctive feature might be its crowd design. The Queensboro Bridge, around mile 15 to 16, is famously quiet, no crowd access on the roadway itself, right after runners cross the halfway point. It leads directly onto First Avenue in Manhattan, one of the loudest, most crowded stretches in marathon running. The contrast, from near silence to a wall of noise within a few hundred meters, is something most first-time New York runners are not prepared for.
In the most recent completed edition, 2025, Benson Kipruto won the men's race in 2:08:09 in a photo finish, timed to the second against runner-up Alexander Mutiso. Hellen Obiri won the women's race in 2:19:51, a course record that broke Margaret Okayo's 22-year-old mark by two minutes and forty seconds, and her second New York title after also winning in 2023. Marcel Hug and American Susannah Scaroni won the wheelchair races. Eliud Kipchoge, the most decorated marathoner of his generation, made his New York debut in 2025 and finished 17th, a reminder that even the sport's greatest names find this course humbling.
One name worth watching for a future edition: Andreas Almgren, the European record holder over 5,000m and the half marathon, has named New York as the target for his own marathon debut.
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How to train for New York
New York punishes runners who train exclusively on flat terrain and arrive expecting a Berlin-style race. The preparation needs to match the course.
Train on grade, not just hills
The bridges are long and steady, not short and steep. Hill repeats at a moderate 3 to 4 percent grade, held for several minutes at a time, are a closer match to the Verrazzano or Queensboro than short, sharp hill sprints.
Race by effort, not by a flat-course pace goal
A goal pace built around a flat major like Berlin will not survive New York's climbs. Train to run the uphill sections by effort and let pace vary, rather than forcing a fixed number the terrain will not allow.
Practice on real roads, not just a track or treadmill
New York's streets crown and camber like real city roads. Training runs on varied, uneven surfaces build the lower-leg resilience that a flat treadmill build will not.
Course-specific bridge work matters, but it sits on top of a real aerobic foundation, not instead of one. Build your aerobic base and anchor training around the long run before layering in New York-specific hill work.
