The dates below are for 2024. They will be updated when the 2025 dates have been published. All details are not confirmed yet for 2025.
Registration for the 2025 New York City Marathon will probably start in the end of February. See dates for 2024 below.
Below are the normal ways to enter.
There is no hurry to register when it is open:
If you enter the lottery your chances are the same if you enter the first or the last day.
If you have a guaranteed entry you can also register any time when registration is open.
Registration fee for 2024 was:
$315 for non-NYRR members
$255 for NYRR-members
Your credit card must be valid until April. If it is not valid at the time of charge, you will lose your spot! PS: Every year applications are declined because credit cards are declined. Check that your submitted credit card is valid and is able to accept a charge from NYRR!
You can enter the race by one of these methods:
Enter the lottery. It will be a random drawing among all the entrants. The drawing for NYCM 2024 was held on March 28, 2024. About 165,000 applied for the lottery and about 6,600 was accepted. That is about 4%! About 128,000 applied for the lottery and about 6,400 was accepted in 2023. That is about 5%. In 2020 185,332 applied for the lottery. 4,262 were selected. That is 2.3%! The drawing is done in 3 groups: New York and surrounding, rest of USA and rest of the world. The same percentage is drawn from each group. In 2019 117,709 applied for the lottery. 10,510 were selected. That is 8.9%. From the 3 groups 3,035 were selected from the New York group, 4,433 from the USA group and 3,042 from the World group. In 2022 about 84,000 applied for the lottery, and 12% were selected.
The drawing takes place all day, from about 6am to late afternoon.
If you are selected, there are 3 ways that you can see it. Usually they appear in this order:
You see a charge on your credit card.
You see the status changing to "Accepted" in your Dashboard.
You receive an email saying that you have been accepted.
By the end of the day, all should have received an email, both those selected and those not selected.
After the lottery, all NYRR members who were not selected, are placed in a Second Chance Drawing. That drawing is done the same evening. Those NYRR members selected in the Second Chance Drawing, will NOT automatically be entered in the Marathon. They will receive a code during the week and have to claim their spot by registering on the NYRR website and pay. Their status will be "Not Accepted" until they register and pay.
The application period for the 2024 New York City Marathon General Lottery will be from February 28 - March 21, 2024.
Many runners wonder if there is a possibility to register for the lottery as a group, so all or none gets in. But that possibility does not exist for New York.
Guaranteed entry. That can be:
9+1 and 9+$1K (mostly for people living in, or close to New York). You have to be a NYRR member to qualify for this option.
Runners who cancelled their entry to the 2023 NYC Marathon according to the guidlines.
Completed 15+ NYC Marathons.
The application period for Guaranteed Entry above will be from February 21 - March 21, 2024.
Running the Virtual NYCM. Runners who registered and ran the Virtual NYCM in 2024 have a guaranteed entry for 2025.
The application period for Virtual Qualifiers will be from February 21 - March 21, 2024.
Run for charity. A list of charities will be available at the NYCM web site. For most charities you have to raise at least $3,000.
Contact an International Travel Operator. A list of those are on the NYCM web site. Usually you have to buy the flights and hotels at the same place. Most of them charge very high prices.
Qualify by time from a NYRR race. Runners who have qualified through NYRR races are automatically accepted. See the NYCM web site. The application period for NYRR Time Qualifiers will be from February 21 - March 21, 2024.
Qualify by time from a non-NYRR race. A limited number of time-qualifier spots will be available to runners who meet the time standards in a non-NYRR race. From 2024 this application process will have it's own time window. You can enter at any time during that window. You must provide your qualifying time and the name of the 2024 race. Results must be verifiable online. Qualifying times must be run at an event that has a certified half-marathon or full marathon course.
At the end of the application window, if they have more applications than spots (very likely), they give the spots to the best times, considering sex and age group. They assign the spots in each combination of sex and age group using the same percentage as the total number of non-NYRR TQ applicants.
If for example 12% of all the non-NYRR TQ applicants are men 40-44, men 40-44 will also get 12% of the available non-NYRR spots. And the fastest times in that group will get the spots.
For 2024, 19% of those applying for non-NYRR TQ were accepted.
The application period for non-NYRR Time Qualifiers will be from February 28 - March 6, 2024.
PS: From 2025, only qualification times from FULL Marathons will count for non-NYRR time qualifiers, not half!
For the 2015 Marathon 3,541 runners got automatic entry based on qualification time.
The qualifying time for the 2025 Marathon must be done January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024. This is the current qualification standards:
Men
Age*
Marathon
1/2 Marathon
18-34
2:53:00
1:21:00
35-39
2:55:00
1:23:00
40-44
2:58:00
1:25:00
45-49
3:05:00
1:28:00
50-54
3:14:00
1:32:00
55-59
3:23:00
1:36:00
60-64
3:34:00
1:41:00
65-69
3:45:00
1:46:00
70-74
4:10:00
1:57:00
75-79
4:30:00
2:07:00
80+
4:55:00
2:15:00
Women and Non- Binary
Age*
Marathon
1/2 Marathon
18-34
3:13:00
1:32:00
35-39
3:15:00
1:34:00
40-44
3:26:00
1:37:00
45-49
3:38:00
1:42:00
50-54
3:51:00
1:49:00
55-59
4:10:00
1:54:00
60-64
4:27:00
2:02:00
65-69
4:50:00
2:12:00
70-74
5:30:00
2:27:00
75-79
6:00:00
2:40:00
80+
6:35:00
2:50:00
*Age on November 2, 2025.
If you have a guaranteed entry you must claim it by submitting your application during the application period!
Cancellation: If you have an individual entry (not Charity or International Tour Operator), you can cancel online on your NYRR profile until November 1 and in person at the Expo October 30 to November 1. Then you have a guaranteed entry next year, but you have to register and pay again. No refund if you cancel. PS: Guaranteed entry is only for individual entrants. It is not for Charities and Tour Operators.
If you cancel your entry in consecutive years, you are no longer eligible for guaranteed entry at the second consecutive cancellation.
You can not cancel after you have picked up your bib.
Total hits to my NYCM site since 04/28/2008:
Where are the visitors coming from? (03/25/2018 to 11/01/2024)
