Great New York 100M & 100K Running Exposition

The Great New York 100 Mile/100KM Running Exposition is an informal, small, low-key event that nevertheless promises to be an unforgettable running experience. It is an urban adventure, a running tour of New York City, beginning and ending in Times Square.

The start is at the Times Square pedestrian plaza at Broadway and 47th St., next to the TKTS booth, and the finish is at the Times Square pedestrian plaza on Broadway between 42nd and 43rd St.

WHAT’S WITH THE NAME? First of all, if it’s in New York, it has to be great! And the name takes its cue from the tradition of P.T. Barnum, where everything is great. It’s an exposition because it will expose you to parts of the city you’ve probably never been to before, and will show you what a great city this is to run in.

CUTOFF: The cutoff time for finishing the race is 30 hours (11:00 a.m. Sunday). The cutoff for 100 KM to continue on is 16 hours (9:00 p.m.), the cutoff for the 100K finish is 18 hours (11:00 p.m.).

COURSE: The course is 100.3 miles. It runs north through Manhattan, over the Broadway Bridge into the Bronx, through parks and greenways to Orchard Beach, over the Triborough Bridge into Queens, through the Queens park corridor, including Flushing Meadows Park/Unisphere, then to Rockaway Beach, Coney Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhattan. The course will be marked but runners must be alert and attentive to markings and directions to avoid a wrong turn. The terrain is generally flat to gently rolling, with the biggest hills coming in the first 10 miles up through Inwood Hill Park, and the larger bridges that are crossed. There are about two miles of trails in Van Cortlandt Park and a short trail section at Orchard Beach and another short section in Alley Pond Park, otherwise the course is all paved. There are some sections in parks and on greenways where you can run on the grass alongside the pavement, which is allowed (but not on people’s lawns). I’ve tried to minimize running on streets with traffic as much as possible, but NOTE that much of the final 10 miles is run on streets where there may be heavy vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic, which is part of the “urban adventure” aspect of the race, so prepare to take extra care in traffic when you’re exhausted near the end.