Marathon runners will skip a Mott Haven supermarket loop on Nov. 1
A revised Bronx section trims two turns and keeps a grocery store and laundromat reachable for neighbors on race day.
Runners in this year’s New York City Marathon will follow a revised path through Mott Haven when the race returns on Sunday, Nov. 1. New York Road Runners announced the adjustment Tuesday. It is the first time the course has changed in 15 years.
The new section sits past the 20-mile mark, before runners reach mile 21. Two of the seven turns in the Bronx disappear, and the field will no longer wrap around the East 140th Street block that is home to a Western Beef grocery store and a laundromat open around the clock.
New NYC Marathon route in the Bronx, street by street
The entry point stays the same: the Willis Avenue Bridge, then a left onto East 135th Street and a right onto Alexander Avenue. Past races turned off Alexander at East 138th Street. This time the field keeps heading north on Alexander until East 141st Street, where it turns left. Runners then swing onto Third Avenue, which carries them to East 138th Street. They turn right there and follow it over the Madison Avenue Bridge into Manhattan.
Under the old layout, runners went up Morris Avenue, hooked left onto East 140th Street along the grocery store’s parking lot and made another left on Rider Avenue, circling the block. That left residents of the Patterson Houses, a complex of nearly 1,800 units on the other side of Morris Avenue, cut off from the stores.
Why New York Road Runners changed the course
Organizers said the Bronx neighborhood has changed over the past 50 years and they want the race to disrupt it less. Spokesperson Liv Ren said the revised route should make local businesses easier to reach. It grew out of a 2024 review of the Bronx section that weighed the race’s impact on local resources and included consultations with various stakeholders. The group presented two options to the city and the NYPD, which approved this one ahead of the recertification the course must undergo this year.
Race director Ted Metellus, who grew up in the Bronx, said the area is more residential than it used to be and that Sunday, race day, is when many people run errands. “I had some sensitivities to that because those sections of the Bronx are food deserts,” he said.
The shift arrives as the five-borough course marks 50 years. After six years of laps in Central Park, the race first crossed all five boroughs on Oct. 24, 1976. This year’s start is at 8 a.m. on Staten Island.
Quick answers
What changed on the NYC Marathon route?
Runners stay on Alexander Avenue past East 138th Street and turn left at East 141st Street, then take Third Avenue to East 138th Street and turn right toward the Madison Avenue Bridge. The old loop around a supermarket block on East 140th Street is gone.
Why was the marathon route changed?
New York Road Runners said the Bronx neighborhood has changed and it wants the race to disrupt it less, while keeping local businesses such as a supermarket and a laundromat reachable on race day.
When is the 2026 NYC Marathon?
Sunday, Nov. 1. The race starts on Staten Island at 8 a.m.
