The TCS New York City Marathon is the best-attended race in the world on both sides of the barriers: more than 50,000 runners and, by the organisers’ count, around two million people watching from the street. It’s also one of the easiest marathons to follow if you’re not there, with a live broadcast in more than 160 countries and an app that puts a dot on the map for every runner.
Here’s how to watch on Sunday, 1 November 2026, whether you’re on First Avenue or on another continent.
Start times
The clocks go back in the United States in the early hours of race morning, so New York is on Eastern Standard Time, five hours behind UTC. Runners get an extra hour of sleep; spectators abroad should check their maths.
| Start | New York (EST) | London (GMT) | Berlin (CET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional wheelchair division | 08:00 | 13:00 | 14:00 |
| Professional women | 08:35 | 13:35 | 14:35 |
| Professional men | 09:05 | 14:05 | 15:05 |
| Wave 1 | 09:10 | 14:10 | 15:10 |
| Wave 2 | 09:45 | 14:45 | 15:45 |
| Wave 3 | 10:20 | 15:20 | 16:20 |
| Wave 4 | 10:55 | 15:55 | 16:55 |
| Wave 5 | 11:30 | 16:30 | 17:30 |
The professional women reach the finish around 11:00 New York time and the men around 11:10. A four-hour runner in wave 2 finishes at about 13:45, and the last finishers come into the park after dark, around 19:30.
These are the 2025 wave times; NYRR confirms the 2026 schedule in the runner’s guide in the last week of October, and it rarely moves by more than a few minutes.
Watching on TV and online
The race is produced by WABC-TV and ESPN, and the 2025 pattern, which the 2026 broadcast is expected to follow, was:
- In the New York area: WABC-TV Channel 7, live from 08:00 to 13:00, with pre-race coverage from 07:00. The same feed streams on ABC7NY.com and the ABC 7 New York app.
- Across the United States: ESPN2 from 08:00 to 11:30 ET, with pre- and post-race coverage on ESPN+. A Spanish-language broadcast runs on ESPN3 at the same time. ABC airs a two-hour highlights programme in the afternoon.
- The finish line, all day: ABC7NY.com streams a fixed finish-line camera from mid-morning until the evening, so you can watch your runner cross the line even if they finish at 16:00.
- Internationally: the race is shown live in more than 160 countries through the usual partners (TSN in Canada, Fox Sports in Australia, RAI in Italy, SuperSport in Africa, and others). NYRR publishes the country-by-country list about a week before the race. If your broadcaster isn’t carrying it, the NYRR app streams the four professional divisions.
Tracking a runner
The official NYRR app (the one with the Tata Consultancy Services logo) is the tool. Search for a runner by name or bib number, add as many as you like, and you’ll get a position on the course map updated at every timing mat, which are every 5 km and every mile from mile 1, plus a predicted finish time. In 2025 the app also carried live camera feeds from miles 8, 16 and 20 and from the finish, so you could see your runner go past a fixed point.
Two things to know:
- The dot is a projection, not GPS. Between mats the app estimates position from the last split, so a runner who has just slowed on the Queensboro will appear further along than they are. Give the dot a couple of minutes’ slack when you’re deciding whether to go to the barrier.
- Phone networks on race day are saturated, especially on First Avenue and near the finish. Download the app and add your runners on Saturday, and agree a meeting point in advance rather than relying on calls.
If the runner tracks their own race with iRunning, the Live Activity on their lock screen shows the current pace and distance, and after the finish the summary has every mile split. How runners share the finish covers the cards and route videos.
Where to watch on the course
The course visits all five boroughs, but Staten Island and Queens are hard to reach and the Bronx is short. The practical spectator route is Brooklyn, then Manhattan, and with the subway you can see the same runner three times. Mile numbers and the course guide tell you what they’ll be feeling when they pass.
| Spot | Miles | Why | Subway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fourth Avenue, Bay Ridge to Park Slope | 3–7 | Wide, early, runners are fresh and easy to spot. Less crowded than Manhattan | R train along Fourth Avenue |
| Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene / Clinton Hill | 8 | The three start colours have just merged; bands on the corners, the loudest Brooklyn stretch | B, D, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center |
| Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg | 11 | Quieter, so your runner can actually hear you. Easy to spot them | L to Bedford Avenue |
| First Avenue, East 60s to 90s | 16–18 | The famous wall of noise. Ten deep, hard to see a specific runner, unforgettable anyway | 4, 5, 6, N, Q, R to 59th Street or 6 to 68th/77th/86th |
| Fifth Avenue, East 90th to 105th | 23 | The hardest climb on the course. This is where they need you | 6 to 96th Street, or 2, 3 to 110th |
| Central Park South and Columbus Circle | 26 | The last half mile, grandstands and the turn into the park | A, B, C, D, 1 to 59th Street–Columbus Circle |
A classic plan: see them at mile 8 in Fort Greene, take the subway to the Upper East Side for First Avenue around mile 17, then walk across the park to Central Park South for the finish. The gap between mile 8 and mile 17 is about 80 minutes for a four-hour runner, which is enough for the train if you leave as soon as they’ve passed.
The finish line itself is inside Central Park and the grandstands there need tickets, which NYRR sells in advance and which usually go before race week. Central Park South is free and nearly as good.
Tips for the day
- Bring a sign with their name. Not a joke; a runner who hears their own name on First Avenue at mile 17 runs the next mile faster. Big letters, few words.
- Tell them where you’ll be, and which side of the road. Runners drift to the side where they expect you. “First Avenue, east side, 80th Street” is a plan; “somewhere on First Avenue” isn’t.
- Dress for standing still. Spectators get colder than runners. Early November in New York is 7–14 °C with wind on the avenues.
- Bring their stuff. Many runners skip the bag pre-check and run with nothing. A warm layer, flip-flops and a snack at the family reunion area on Central Park West will make you very popular.
- The reunion area is outside the runners-only zone. Runners leave the park at West 77th Street, 20–30 minutes after they finish, and the meeting points are on Central Park West between 63rd and 76th Streets. Pick a street number.
If you’re running
Our race-week checklist has the expo, transport and start-village details, and the pacing guide has the splits. Tell your people which side of First Avenue you’ll run on. Then enjoy the loudest 26 miles in running.
Broadcast and schedule details are from NYRR’s 2025 race information as of 14 October 2026; NYRR publishes the 2026 broadcast schedule and runner’s guide in the last week of October. Check them for final times.
