On Sunday, November 5, roughly 50,000 runners will descend upon the five boroughs for the New York City Marathon — and that includes part of the main thoroughfares of Greenpoint. And with that, comes road closures, parking restrictions, and revelry.
You’ve likely seen the beginnings of some marathon signage sprinkling the neighborhood in anticipation, and it will all come to fruition when the course heads down Bedford Avenue past McCarren Park, makes a left onto Manhattan Avenue, a right onto Greenpoint Avenue, then another left onto McGuinness before heading over the Pulaski Bridge at roughly the halfway point. Unsurprisingly, those streets will be closed until around 4 p.m., though there will potentially still be runners continuing on the open course.
The race itself starts at 8 a.m. with the professional wheelchair division, followed by handcycles and select athletes with disabilities, then the professional men and women, before opening up to general athlete waves every 35 minutes until 11:30 a.m. And while you can be thankful you don’t have to schlep to Staten Island before sunrise, it’ll still be worth getting up early enough to catch the stacked professional fields — which includes reigning champs, Olympians, and world-record holders — as they zip by.
And for those hoping to spectate, plenty of spots along the route will be opening their doors early for celebratory libations, including Hole in the Wall (292 Bedford Ave) with $12 cocktail specials and giveaways, Horse and Divorces (285 Bedford Ave), The Gibson (108 Bedford Ave) with a live DJ, Turkey’s Nest (94 Bedford Ave), Lake Street Bar (706 Manhattan Ave), Temkin’s (155 Greenpoint Ave) with kolaches and specialty drinks, and more.