New York City Gets Another Major Marathon, in Brooklyn

“This was a matter of us working with the city all these years, and them getting to know us and trust us enough to be able to do something like this,” Lastoe said.

Lorraine Grillo, the city’s senior adviser for recovery, said expanding the race was part of the effort to help the city come back from the economic toll of the pandemic. Large races can generate significant economic activity, especially with meals and hotel rooms.

Lastoe said that permits were pending, but that he expected to register as many as 18,000 runners, and possibly 20,000, or more than three times more than previous editions of the race, which would make it one of the largest in the country. He expects about a third of them to run the full marathon, and the other two-thirds to do a half-marathon that will mostly follow the same route for the first 13 miles.

The Brooklyn Marathon moved partially into the streets three years ago, when marathoners ran the same course as half-marathoners, starting on Eastern Parkway near the Brooklyn Museum and spending a few miles on Ocean Parkway, before ending up in Prospect Park. The route was largely the same as what had been known as the Rock ’n’ Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon, staged by Competitor Group, a sports marketing company, from 2015 to 2017.

Lastoe’s organization took over that race in 2018. At its conclusion, marathoners had to circle Prospect Park four times. Competitor Group lobbied the city for a second major marathon during Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration, but was not successful.

Lastoe said he was not yet sure what it would cost to stage the race or what he would charge runners. For several years, his organization’s races were cheaper and smaller than others.

The first editions of the Brooklyn Marathon and another marathon the organization held in Central Park had just a few hundred finishers and cost about $100 to enter, compared with the New York City Marathon, which costs $255. By 2018, however, the Brooklyn Marathon cost $220 to enter.