Cheering the NYC Marathon

Kevin Fang

— 3 min read

NYC marathon day is exciting for all true New Yorkers, whether you are racing or not. It’s crazy to imagine (and then see only a portion of) 50k people run across all 5 boroughs. I watched the birds-eye view of the race track and it was already so long. But the weather has been great and the vibes are immaculate – why not be outside and enjoy it?

Cheering is a lot more hectic than you think it’ll be. At first, you think it’s quite easy: find a spot, cheer them on, and repeat 2 or 3 times. But then you realize once you get off the subway you need to walk 3 extra blocks so you can get onto the right side of the track and fight your way through the crowd to be closer to the track. Next you need to spot one runner out of a hoard of thousands and yell and wave to catch their attention to cheer them on. After all that, you have to find your way out and cram back into a hot and stuffed subway car as you race to your next destination to repeat it all over again. You got to juggle between different runners running wildly different paces starting (sometimes) hours apart. It’s just as tiring to be someone cheering as something running! I’m only partially joking.

I’ve watched the marathon for a couple years now, with one year even taking a bus directly from LGA just so I could cheer! Here are some of my thoughts:

  • Buy a cowbell (not the mini kind), I got mine from Amazon for pretty cheap. It’s surprisingly fun to use.
  • Bring a tote-bag. Brands will hand out free things at popular spots.
  • Add runners to find my friends to track them or use the web app
    • I’ve found the downloaded Appstore app to be more buggy than the web app.
  • Figure out what they’re wearing so they’re easier to spot. Some runners even create PDFs with their pace and the best cheering locations timestamped by expected ETA.
  • If you’re planning to make a poster board, buy the materials in advance. The stock rapidly drops near marathon day
  • Consider cheering in groups: having multiple people look for the same person increases the chance of spotting them earlier and also getting the chance to actually record them.
  • Add at least a ~20m buffer if you’re planning to take the subway. Subway stops to the race path take a bit longer than you expect and trains move much slower as people cram in and out of train cars.
  • Don’t take the bus! Bus routes are heavily modified and the last thing you want is for you to wait 20m for a bus that will never come.
  • Cheer for random people. I love how people will put their name on their race suits!
  • This year, we also had some bio freeze available, and that was a surprising hit. I guess it's fun to give away random things!

When arriving at a location:

Get on the correct side of the race first. Crossing the race path in general is hard (especially near subway stations and at the beginning of the race), and the last thing you want to do is walk back and forth to be on the left or right side.

Here's a reasonable itinerary:

  • Atlantic Barclays
    • This is a really fun spot to cheer at, although don’t expect runners to spot you unless they’ve coordinated beforehand to look for you. It’s super loud!
    • I think it’s pretty convenient to navigate via subway and relatively easy to cross between the left and right sides via the subway station.
    • This area has all the energy you'll need to have a great time.
  • 60th street 1st Ave (alternative to Atlantic barclays)
    • This is at least 2 avenues away from the subway station.
  • 125th street 1st Avenue
    • It's a bit quiet up here which gives you a lot of room to cheer and ring your cowbell.
  • 125th street 5th Avenue
    • Walking 4 avenues west is really quick and you aren't dependent on the timetables of public transportation.
  • Central Park near the finish line
    • You can bike down and watch from the sidelines for a nice central park photo snipe of your friend.
  • Dip
    • You could also go to the finish line, but it's chaotic out there.

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