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A Second Marathon Is Coming to New York City

A fan cheers on runners in the Brooklyn leg of the New York City Marathon in 2019. Photo: Getty Images

After a year without a marathon in 2020, New York City will soon have two of the 26.2-mile footraces. On Tuesday, city officials approved plans for the Brooklyn Marathon to take place on April 24, 2022, with a tentative course running north and south through the borough.

According to a tentative map of the course, the race will begin at McCarren Park then run down the Williamsburg waterfront before moving toward Prospect Park and down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island — and then back up again. Runners will have six to seven hours to finish the race before streets are reopened.

Running advocates have pushed for years to get the city to sign off on a second race, an effort which has been partially impeded by the New York Road Runners, the organization overseeing the New York City Marathon held in the fall. As the New York Times notes, the group has “long resisted the idea of staging a spring road marathon, preferring to maintain the unique place the New York City Marathon holds in the running calendar.” But after a years-long campaign to host a proper marathon in Brooklyn — there have been several 26.2-mile lap races around Prospect Park — the dream is becoming a reality. “This was a matter of us working with the city all these years, and them getting to know us and trust us enough to be able to do something like this,” Steve Lastoe, the founder of New York City Runs, the group responsible for the race, told the Times. Lastoe added that he anticipated that 18,000 to 20,000 runners would register for the race, making it one of the largest marathons in the country.

Still, that number is substantially smaller than the New York City Marathon, the largest in the country. For the November 7 race, a much smaller field is expected than in a normal year, with participants having to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test. Still, 33,000 runners are expected to give it a go on the course, which goes through all five boroughs.

A Second Marathon Is Coming to New York City