NYRR Marathon
Confirmed
C
Participating
Participating
When and Where
When:
November 01, 2026
Timeline:
6:30 am — 2:00 pm
Location: Fluid Station Mile 3A — 4th Avenue at 82nd Street
🏃 NYRR volunteer registration
Passed
When: 09/21/2026
🚗 Go
Upcoming
When: 11/01/2026
Advancement Opportunities
Opportunities offered at this event. Per-scout credit varies with attendance; for some metrics, adults record the qualifying portion after the event.
On the first Sunday in November, roughly fifty thousand runners come up 4th Avenue through Bay Ridge — the wheelchair racers and the professional fields from a little after eight, then the five waves of the main field from about half past nine until after noon. Troop 23 works the Mile 3A fluid station at 82nd Street, filling cups and handing out water and Gatorade as the field goes past.
It is the loudest, fastest, wettest service the troop does all year. Cups get grabbed at speed, half of them get spilled, and everyone goes home soaked. Our historian's account of the 2025 race put it plainly: "we got splashed constantly, and by the end, most of us were soaked. Some more than others."
This one is not scouts-only. Parents, siblings and friends are all welcome and genuinely needed — the station takes more hands than the troop has. It is also the single biggest block of service in the troop year: the shift runs from a 6:30 a.m. check-in to a 2:00 p.m. check-out, so one morning is worth up to seven and a half hours. Most people leave well before two and log correspondingly less — the figure is the length of the shift, not a promise.
Registration
Registration for this year's race is closed. Volunteers sign up through NYRR, not through the troop, and NYRR does not accept walk-ups on race morning — if you did not register, you cannot work the station this year.
If you did register, keep NYRR's confirmation on your phone: it is what you show at check-in. It should read Fluid Station Mile 3A, 6:30 am to 2:00 pm. Mile 3 has two fluid stations, and ours is 3A, at 4th Avenue and 82nd Street. If your confirmation names any other station, tell a leader before race day.
Missed it this time? The troop works this station every year, and next year's page will carry NYRR's new registration link as soon as it is issued.
Prepare For Race Day
- Dress for the weather.
- Wear comfortable shoes as you will be standing throughout the event.
- Have fun and take breaks as needed.
- To ensure a safe and fun event, please review NYRR Volunteer Guidelines.
- Please do not bring a bag with you. Waist packs and fanny packs are ok, but all other bags are required to be checked.
- Please do not bring your children with you unless they are registered as volunteers.
- Pets are not permitted.
Race Morning
Check-in is 6:30 am and check-out is 2:00 pm. The clocks go back the night before: daylight saving time ends at 2:00 am on race morning, so 6:30 is on the new time. Phones change by themselves; a bedside clock may not.
Most volunteers do not stay the full stretch, but the busy part is long. The wheelchair racers, handcycles and professional fields start between 8:00 and 9:05, and the five waves of the main field at 9:10, 9:45, 10:20, 10:55 and 11:30. Mile 3 is twenty to forty minutes into a runner's race, so the bulk of the field comes past from about half past nine until after noon. The station stays staffed until the last runners pass.
The work is simple and relentless: set up tables, pour water and Gatorade into cups, line the cups up, hand them out, sweep up, repeat. Nobody needs experience.
What to wear
NYRR provides their customary ponchos. No Class A or Class B uniform is needed — this is one of the few troop events where uniform is not the answer. Wear your Troop 23 cap or other troop gear instead so we are recognisable in the crowd, and dress for standing outdoors in early November for several hours.
Two things NYRR's own list does not say. You are standing on wet pavement the entire morning — spilled water and Gatorade go everywhere and stay there — so the comfortable shoes in their list should also be shoes you do not mind soaking. And yes, you may drink as much Gatorade as you like.
Fluid Station Mile 3A
The station is on 4th Avenue at 82nd Street, about a fifteen-minute walk from Our Lady of Angels — one of the very few troop events close enough to walk to.
Do not plan on driving. 4th Avenue is closed for the race and the surrounding streets are barricaded; the R train to 86th Street or Bay Ridge Avenue is the reliable way in. Leave more time than you think — the closures reroute everything.
Fluid Station Mile 3A — 4th Avenue at 82nd Street
Address:4th Avenue at 82nd Street
Brooklyn NY, 11209
Coordinates(i): 40.626098704888°, -74.026989340782°
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About the Course
The TCS New York City Marathon runs 26.2 miles through all five boroughs, starting on Staten Island, crossing the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and coming down into Brooklyn — which is why our station is so early in the race. At mile 3 the field is still dense and still fast; the runners we serve are only twenty to forty minutes into their race.
Along the official course, water and Gatorade are set out at every mile from 3 to 25 except at miles 5, 7 and 9 — meaning ours is the first fluid station of the entire race. For a lot of the field, the first cup they take all day comes from a scout's hand.
The full course map is below — worth opening if you want to see where mile 3 sits in the shape of the day.
Troop 23 at the Marathon
- 2025 — tables set up in the dark, cups filled, and by the end of the morning almost everyone soaked through.
- 2024
- 2023
The marathon sits in a run of neighborhood service the troop does every year without much fuss — the September 11 vigil, the Memorial Day parade, the clothing drives at OLA. Together they are most of what Bay Ridge actually sees the troop do.
Last updated on October 23, 2026