2018 NYC Half Marathon: How To Apply

NEW YORK CITY — Who needs a tour guide? New York City's major half marathon will take runners on a tour of the city's most iconic sites starting next year, organizers announced Monday.

The new 13.1-mile course for the 2018 United Airlines NYC Half, set for March 18 of next year, will start in Prospect Park and bring more than 22,000 runners by landmarks including the Manhattan Bridge, Central Park, Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations headquarters.

Organizers say the change will draw even more runners from around the world to the already popular Big Apple race. The new route marks the first major changes to the event since a wheelchair race was added in 2013, according to the New York Road Runners, which organizes it.

"This world-class race has become a bucket-list event for runners from the five boroughs, across the country, and around the world since its inception in 2006," Jim Heim, the New York Road Runners' senior vice president, said in a statement. "The new course offers an exciting challenge for runners with new stretches that have never before been part of a New York Road Runners event.”

The 2018 half-marathon will start near the entrance to Prospect Park on Flatbush Avenue, just south of Grand Army Plaza. Runners will head through Brooklyn, cross the Manhattan Bridge and continue up the FDR Drive.

The halfway point will be 42nd Street, where runners will pass the United Nations before heading by Grand Central Terminal and Bryant Park. The race will continue north through much of Central Park before finishing at 75th Street and West Drive.

More than 19,000 runners, including celebrities such as "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" star Ellie Kemper, finished the 2017 United Airlines NYC Half, the Road Runners said.

The registration period for next year's race is just a week away — applications open at noon on Monday, Oct. 16 and close at 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 30. Interested runners can fill out the application online.

(Lead image: Actress Ellie Kemper runs in the this year's United Airlines NYC Half. Photo courtesy of the New York Road Runners)