New York Women's Half Marathon 2027

Central Park has seen its share of famous strides go by—rarely a tide this united 💗. Every year at the end of April, the Maybelline Women's Half brings together thousands of women runners in the heart of New York, the largest city in the United States, for a half marathon dedicated to women's empowerment. Organized by the legendary New York federation New York Road Runners, the event may be brand new, but it has already carved out a prime spot on the calendar of the big city that runs more than any other in the world 🏙. Beauty, strength, and friendship: the trio alone sums up the spirit of the day 🌸.

Only one distance is on the program—but what a distance 🏃‍♀️. The 21.097 km set off on West Drive, level with 63rd Street, before taking on two full loops of the park and a finish on the famous 72nd Street Transverse. The course is anything but a long, calm river: the hills of Central Park—starting with the formidable Harlem Hill up north—wake up the calves on every lap 😅. To help you hold your pace, NYRR pacers, known for hitting their target time nine times out of ten, guide groups from 1:45 to 2:45. The cherry on your bib: the race is one of the qualifiers for the 9+1 program, that passport to the mythical New York City Marathon 🗽. The best even head home with a check, with the winner pocketing a thousand dollars provided she breaks the hour-and-a-half mark 🏅.

The setting alone is worth the trip 🌳. The green lung of Manhattan, Central Park unfurls its lawns, its lakes, and its wooded paths in the shadow of the skyscrapers 🏙️, offering a striking contrast between soothing nature and the urban jungle. Kilometer after kilometer, the great Reservoir goes by, as do the Bethesda Terrace and the Naumburg Bandshell—so many backdrops filmed a thousand times over 🍃. In spring, the trees dress themselves in blossoms, and the morning mildness makes the effort almost poetic. With more than 5,000 finishers, the race found its audience in record time 🌷.

Behind the event stands a giant of global running 💪. Founded in 1958, the New York Road Runners association orchestrates the city's races, from the humblest ten-miler to the immense New York City Marathon and its fifty thousand runners. Launched in 2025, the Maybelline Women's Half fits into this tradition while cultivating its own singularity: a timed race with prize money, designed entirely around women and also open to non-binary categories. In just a few months, it has become one of the most sought-after women's events on the North American continent 🏃‍♀️.

The spirit of the Maybelline Women's Half goes beyond performance alone 💖. The race puts the spotlight on mental well-being, backed by a support program against anxiety and depression, and donates funds to a major American mental health organization, NAMI—a charitable approach that gives meaning to every kilometer 🫶. At the finish, it’s time for a brightly colored festival, where you can have your time engraved on a lip gloss tube and sign a big mirror as a champions' wall, in an unapologetically festive atmosphere 💄. The organizers also sweat the details that matter: breastfeeding spaces at the start, a water refill station on the course, enhanced accessibility—so many gestures that make the race welcoming for everyone 💐.

Once you leave the park, Manhattan reasserts itself 🌆. Along Fifth Avenue, the famed Museum Mile lines up its temples of art, from the Metropolitan Museum to the Guggenheim, while the cafés of the Upper West Side serve the perfect Sunday brunch for tired legs. After a good New York bagel and a long coffee, the city that never sleeps picks up its frenetic tempo again 🥯.