Course change for Manhattan Half Marathon

Unless I’m totally going crazy and this was already done last year, I notice that the course for the Manhattan Half Marathon is slightly different this year, and a nice little improvement!  In the past, the race would start in the East 80’s behind the museum, and finish in the 102nd transverse, the 1 mile distance creating a problem for the race staging and bag drop.

This year, the race will start on the West Drive  at 63rd St, and then after 2 full counter clockwise loops (same direction as in the past) will finish in the 72nd St transverse.  This creates a much more centralized staging area, in the bandshell.  While the start and finish are in different spots, this is similar to the staging at the fitness mag 4 miler in Sept.

This works well for me too as I will be forced to do the harlem hills at the north end of the park in my training loop of the park after the race.  My understanding is that the course for the Austin Marathon has changed from years past and there are now a couple of new hills in the last 2 miles, so I need to get the extra hill work in.

Advertisement