The New York City Half Marathon (branded as the

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

NYC Half) is an annual

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

race from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Prospect Park Prospect Park may refer to: Businesses * Prospect Park (production company), entertainment production company *Prospect Park Productions NZ, theatre company based in Dunedin, New Zealand Places New Zealand * Prospect Park, New Zealand, a portion ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

via the

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. Designed by Leon Moisseiff, the bridge has a tota ...

, held since 2006. It passes through or by

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

, Grand Central, and both

Grand Army Plaza Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as s ...

New York Road Runners New York Road Runners (NYRR) is a non-profit running organization based in New York City whose mission is to help and inspire people through running. It was founded in 1958 by Ted Corbitt with 47 members and has since grown to a membership of more ...

(NYRR) administers the race.

History

Numerous world class runners have participated in the race, including marathon record holders

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie (; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian former Long-distance running, long-distance track running, track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Athletics Championships, World Cha ...

and

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a British former long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 200 ...

, Olympic

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

medalists

Catherine Ndereba Catherine Nyambura Ndereba (born 21 July 1972) is a retired Kenyan marathon runner. Between 2003 and 2008, she finished in the top two in five successive global championship marathons. Ndereba has twice won the marathon at the World Championshi ...

Meb Keflezighi Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi (; , ''Mebrāhtōm Kifl'izgī''; born May 5, 1975) is a retired American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and finished in fourth place in the 2012 Summer Olympics. He won ...

, and

Deena Kastor Deena Michelle Kastor (née Drossin; born February 14, 1973) is an American long-distance runner. She is the former American record holder in the marathon (2003-2022) and numerous road distances. Kastor held 15 American records simultaneously in ...

, 2008 U.S. Olympic marathoner

Dathan Ritzenhein Dathan James Ritzenhein (born December 30, 1982) is a retired American long-distance runner, and current head coach of the On Athletics Club (OAC). He held the American record in the 5,000 metres (12:56.27) from 2009 to 2010, until it was broke ...

, and American half marathon record holder Ryan Hall. Gebrselassie set the men's course record in 2007, with a time of 59:24. On March 20, 2016,

Molly Huddle Molly Huddle (born August 31, 1984) is an American long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events. She held the American record in the 5000 meters set in 2014 in Monaco (14:42.64), which has since been lowered by S ...

set the women's record with a time of 1:07:41. In its earlier years, the event was run on various dates in the summer; in 2010, it was moved to March. The 2010 race had a field of 14,821 registered runners and 11,604 finishers.

Mary Wittenberg Mary Wittenberg ( Robertson; born July 17, 1962) is an American sports executive who formerly served as President (corporate title), president of professional women's association football, women's soccer club NJ/NY Gotham FC. She was previously ...

, president of the NYRR, said in 2010 that she expected a possible growth of over 20,000 participants in future years. On October 8, 2014, United Airlines, which was the sponsor of many of the NYRR races, became the title sponsor of the NYC Half Marathon. The 2020 and 2021 races were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. All registrants were given the option of obtaining a full refund or guaranteed, non-complimentary entry to the March 2022 race.

Course

2006–2008

From 2006 through 2008, the course started in Central Park near East 85th Street and looped clockwise for approximately 7.6 miles (more than one full loop) until runners exited Central Park onto Seventh Avenue and through Times Square. Runners made a right turn onto West

42nd Street 42nd Street most commonly refers to: *42nd Street (Manhattan), a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan It may also refer to: *42nd Street (film), ''42nd Street'' (film), a 1933 American Warner Bros. musical film with lyri ...

, followed by a left turn onto the

West Side Highway The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from 72nd Street (Manhattan), West 72nd Street along the Hudso ...

, adjacent to the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

. The race ended on the West Side Highway by Rector Street, near the southern tip of Manhattan.

2009–2017

From 2009 through 2017, the course started near East 72nd Street with a counter-clockwise loop around hilly Central Park. The course then flattened and went along Seventh Avenue to Times Square, where it followed 42nd Street to the West Side Highway, adjacent to the Hudson River. The race passed through

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...

and finished at

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

near the southern tip of Manhattan.

2018

In October 2017, NYRR announced a course change for the 2018 race. The course begins in

and heads northwest along

Flatbush Avenue Flatbush Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City Borough (New York City), Borough of Brooklyn. It runs from the Manhattan Bridge south-southeastward to Jamaica Bay, where it joins the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, which ...

, and then crosses the

. Runners then proceed through the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

towards

FDR Drive Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, commonly known as the FDR Drive, is a controlled-access parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts near South and Broad Streets, just north of the Battery Park Underpas ...

, and exit onto 42nd Street. At Times Square, the course heads north on Seventh Avenue into Central Park. Runners follow the main loop in Central Park clockwise, cut across the park on the 102nd Street Transverse, and then finish near 75th Street on the west side of the park.

Since 2025

For the first time in the history of NYRR races, the 2025 NYC half course is to include the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...

in place of the Manhattan Bridge. This change came into effect following constructions around the Manhattan end of the Manhattan Bridge.