On Sunday, November 1, the 2026 New York City Marathon officially cemented its place in the history books as the largest marathon of all time, surpassing the 2026 London Marathon, which had 59,830 finishers. According to results released Monday by New York Road Runners (NYRR), 61,146 runners crossed the iconic finish line in Central Park (61,529 started the event). That total blasts past last year’s NYC tally of 59,226 finishers—which followed 2024’s record-breaking field of 55,646—marking the third consecutive year the five-borough race has raised the bar worldwide for mass participation.
This year’s record served as a nice topper for a historic run as it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course. When organizers first took the race out of Central Park and onto the streets of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan in 1976, the event was a bold urban experiment. Five decades later, it is an epicenter of the global running community, with waves of marathoners streaming from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from 8 a.m. until well after dark.
While tens of thousands of age-groupers, charity runners, and first-timers chased personal glory, the pro fields delivered plenty of fireworks at the front of the pack: There were plenty of other milestones as well.
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