New York Marathon 2019: Route, Course Map, Times, Road Closures & Event Details

More than 50,000 runners will take to the streets of New York on Sunday for the 2019 New York City Marathon.

In professional terms, it is the first major marathon event since Eliud Kipchoge redefined what can be done over 26.2 miles when he broke the two-hour mark by 20 seconds in Vienna, Austria, in October:

The thousands of amateurs taking part will have the opportunity to follow in the elite runners' footsteps through all five of the city's historic boroughs.

Here are the timings for the start, with the professional wheelchair racers opening proceedings at 8:30 a.m. ET:

8:30: Professional Wheelchair Division

8:52: Fast/Slow Handcycle Category and Select Athletes with Disabilities

8:55: Foot Locker Five-Borough Challenge

9:10: Professional women

9:40: Wave 1 (including professional men)

10:10: Wave 2

10:35: Wave 3

11:00: Wave 4 

The race starts in Staten Island, crosses the iconic Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn, snakes through Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx before finishing in Central Park:

Given the area it covers, many of New York's key roads will be closed for the duration of the race. A full list can be found here. 

Last year, there were record-breaking numbers at the event, with more than 52,000 runners crossing the finish line.

At the head of the men's race was Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa, who won in a time of two hours, five minutes and 59 seconds.

Fresh from his gold medal at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, Desisa will be back in New York again Sunday, looking to defend his title against the likes of Shura Kitata, last year's runner-up by two seconds, and 2017 winner Geoffrey Kamworor.

In the women's race, Mary Keitany will be aiming to build her legend by winning the New York City Marathon for a fifth time:

The Kenyan won the race three times in a row from 2014 before finishing second to U.S. runner Shalane Flanagan in 2017.

Keitany regained the title last year in a time of 2:22:48 and will be looking to make further gains on nine-time winner Grete Waitz on Sunday.