Course Info

The festive atmosphere of this race adds a special energy. If you’re looking for a fast five-mile time in Central Park, this course will be to your liking, and you may gain extra motivation from the local New York City running clubs, who are sure to turn out their speediest runners for this NYRR club points race. You’ll start on the park’s East Drive south of the 102nd Street Transverse and head north, down a hill and around the upper end of the park through the tough Harlem Hills. Guess what? You've completed the hilliest section of the course in the first mile. Continue south on West Drive through the second mile, including a challenging series of three rolling hills between the 102nd Street Transverse and the southwestern edge of the Jacqueline Onassis Reservoir, shortly after the two-mile mark. You can enjoy a welcome downhill for the better part of half a mile, followed by a few hundred meters of running on the flats. Turn left at the 72nd Street Transverse and pass Bethesda Terrace on your left at the three-mile point.

Turn left (north) onto East Drive and pass the Central Park Boathouse, then climb the well-known Cat Hill; you’ll see the Still Hunt statue of a crouching panther looking down on you from a rock wall to your left. After the four-mile mark behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art at East 85th Street, a friendlier statue will greet you along the race’s longest flat section: Fred Lebow, legendary founder of the New York City Marathon, is memorialized in bronze near East 90th Street. You’ll continue north on East Drive and enjoy a slight downhill, then another flat section as you approach the finish at the 102nd Street Transverse. With cheering crowds bringing you home, don’t forget to look up and smile as you cross the finish line!