The New York City Marathon passes through all five boroughs of New York City.
The course begins on Staten Island at the foot of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. It then crosses Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx before finishing in Manhattan’s Central Park. This five-borough route is one of the event’s defining characteristics and exposes runners to several distinct city neighborhoods.
The first New York City Marathon was held in 1970. That original race consisted of repeated laps around Central Park, rather than the modern five-borough course. The route was expanded across the city in 1976, making the marathon a major civic event as well as a sporting competition.
The borough count is sometimes misstated as six because New York City has five boroughs but is commonly associated with five counties. Staten Island is both a borough and the race’s starting location, while Central Park is in Manhattan.