The New York City Marathon is perennially the largest marathon in the world, with approximately 51,400 finishers in 2023. The 2024 New York City Marathon, which begins at 8 A.M. on November 3, is expected to have 53,000 participants.

The 26.2-mile course, which passes through all five of the city’s boroughs, begins on the southwestern approach to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Staten Island and takes runners on a 26.2-mile journey through parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx, before heading back into Manhattan and finishing in Central Park. Although the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is by far the biggest hill, the undulating course is full of rolling hills. It has 810 feet of elevation gain and 824 feet of elevation loss from start to finish, which is why it’s not known for super-fast times. (The flatter course of the Chicago Marathon has only 243 feet of gain and the same amount of loss.).

The men’s course record of 2:04:58 was set in 2023 by Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola (2023), while the women’s course record of 2:22:31 dates back to the 2003 effort of Kenya’s Margaret Okayo.

RELATED: Get a PDF of the New York City Marathon course map.