New York Marathon 2026: famous faces, first-timers and a world of stories

From English football to the long road across America

James Milner brings a remarkable football career to a new kind of Sunday challenge. The former England midfielder retired with 658 Premier League appearances, three league titles and a Champions League winner’s medal. His longevity was built on preparation and consistency, qualities that will serve him well on New York’s bridges. He is running for the James Milner Foundation.

William Goodge has made long journeys his calling card. The British endurance runner plans to use New York as the finale of Mission America: 50 marathon distances across 50 states in 24 days, supporting Stand Up To Cancer in memory of his mother. Reaching the start after such an undertaking would give his final 26.2 miles a very different meaning.

Hannah Frankson brings a track athlete’s background to the road. The London-based Peloton instructor was a competitive triple jumper before becoming familiar to an international fitness audience. She completed London in 2024; New York gives her another opportunity to turn the encouragement she offers others into a personal achievement.

Sources: Premier League: James Milner’s career · NYRR: announced 2026 notable runners · Stand Up To Cancer: Mission America · Peloton: Hannah Frankson · The Clip Out: London 2024 instructor results

New Zealand and Australia: familiar teammates, new challenges

Kieran Read earned 127 caps for the All Blacks and won two Rugby World Cups. The former New Zealand captain now joins a five-person team running for Te Tahi Youth. His rugby honours are extraordinary, but the appeal here is simple: an established champion accepting another demanding challenge to help young people at home.

Ryan Crotty, the former All Black and long-serving Crusader, is part of the same Te Tahi Youth team. His contribution brings the commitment of a professional rugby career to a shared fundraising effort.

Colin Slade, the former All Blacks and Crusaders fly-half, completes the trio of familiar rugby names in the group. New York will ask something different of him than a match: hours of steady effort with the team’s cause waiting beyond the finish.

Aaron Webb is the Crusaders team manager known as Webby. He has already used running to support children and families: his club documents a lockdown marathon and a later 102 km fundraising effort. This time he joins Read, Crotty, Slade and Thrower for Te Tahi Youth, extending a sustained commitment to community sport.

Shane Thrower’s place in the group deserves attention in its own right. After a serious cycling collision in 2003, he rebuilt his life through rehabilitation and returned to endurance sport. His subsequent adventure-running experience and work supporting young people give the Te Tahi Youth challenge a deeply personal foundation.

Callan Ward, the former GWS Giants captain, is running for Rio’s Legacy, which supports access to children’s hospice care in Australia. After an 18-year football career and knee rehabilitation, he has put together a fresh training block for New York. It is a generous use of a new chapter in his sporting life.

James Tobin is familiar to Australian viewers as Weekend Sunrise’s weather presenter. In an October interview he described training for New York alongside work and new parenthood, including runs with a running pram. Anyone fitting marathon preparation around family life will recognise the effort behind that apparently simple sentence.

Sources: Kieran Read: his own career biography · Te Tahi Youth: Our 42 campaign · Crusaders: the five-runner charity team · Crusaders: Aaron Webb’s fundraising runs · GWS Giants: Callan Ward’s marathon interview · New Idea: James Tobin’s training interview

Spain: a champion’s farewell and a family’s shared adventure

Martín Fiz offers one of the weekend’s most moving sporting stories. The Spanish world and European marathon champion says New York will be his 42nd and final marathon. He plans to share it with his son Álex, approaching the distance for the first time, while his wife Ana also takes part. For a runner whose career has included championship victories and masters success, the farewell is centred on family.

Álex Fiz is preparing for his first marathon alongside his father. Their published conversation gives this a lovely symmetry: one runner bringing decades of experience, the other discovering what 42.195 km asks of him. Whatever the clock says, sharing those miles should make this a memorable beginning.

Ana Churruca brings her own New York experience to the family’s weekend. She has recalled enjoying the neighbourhoods and roadside treats on earlier visits to the course, a different approach from Martín’s focus on competition. Her return makes this more than a father-and-son story: three family members will have their own marathon to run.

Sources: Soy Corredor: Martín Fiz’s farewell interview · Mundo Deportivo: father and son prepare together · RTVE: the Fiz family’s New York plans

From Hollywood and Broadway to the five boroughs

Jennifer Connelly returns with marathon experience already earned. Memorial Sloan Kettering identifies New York 2024 as her first marathon, and NYRR recorded 3:45:47. The Academy Award-winning actor is again supporting Fred’s Team. She deserves credit for returning to the training as well as the occasion: the second challenge still requires the miles, the early starts and the resolve to finish.

Dylan Efron may be best known now through The Traitors and Dancing with the Stars, but distance running predates that television attention. Contemporary reporting records his 2018 Boston Marathon finish in 2:57:50. That reported performance shows he is coming to New York with substantial endurance experience; it is not a prediction of his time this Sunday.

Patina Miller has built an impressive running chapter alongside her stage and screen career. The Tony-winning actor finished New York in 3:52:44 in 2025 and London in 4:07:45 this April. Returning to the marathon while maintaining a demanding performing career is an achievement worth celebrating in itself.

Jordan Litz is currently playing Fiyero in Wicked in London, following appearances in the Broadway and touring productions. He completed New York in 3:40:53 last year. Returning allows the theatre’s supporters to cheer an accomplishment that belongs to the performer himself, alongside the characters he brings to life.

Merle Dandridge is known for roles including Marlene in The Last of Us and Grace Greenleaf in Greenleaf. She also has a New York marathon finish to her name: 5:41:06 in 2025. Returning for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, she is showing that a marathon’s value does not depend on breaking a particular time barrier.

Erika Henningsen originated Cady Heron in Mean Girls on Broadway and played Fantine in Les Misérables. For New York she is supporting Girl Rising. Taking on the training alongside her performing career is a commitment in itself, with the added purpose of helping girls access education.

Joshua Bassett, the actor and singer-songwriter known for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, is supporting the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Bringing an audience into a conversation about mental wellbeing gives his training an impact beyond race day.

Benjamin Walker brings a varied theatre career to the field, including American Psycho, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and a Tony-nominated performance in All My Sons. New York offers the actor a different kind of sustained performance, supported by a city-sized audience and measured in miles rather than acts.

Ellie Fisher is a content creator and returning marathon runner, with a 5:03:53 New York finish in 2025. She is supporting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Her own running deserves recognition alongside her connection to the theatre world through her husband, Jordan Fisher.

Sources: Memorial Sloan Kettering: Jennifer Connelly’s first marathon · NYRR: 2024 celebrity finish report · NYRR: announced 2026 notable runners · Page Six: Dylan Efron’s 2018 Boston finish · Time Out: the 2026 entertainment field · NYRR: 2025 celebrity finish report · Canadian Running: Patina Miller at London 2026 · Wicked: Jordan Litz’s theatre career · Broadway.com: Merle Dandridge · BroadwayWorld: the 2026 theatre contingent · John Such Artists: Erika Henningsen · ABC7: the announced 2026 field · Broadway League: Benjamin Walker · Ellie Fisher: her own creator and charity links

Different roots, communities and reasons to run

Antoni Porowski brings a Canadian and Polish family story to the field. Born in Canada to a family from Poland, the Queer Eye star and author is supporting City Harvest, whose Food Council he also serves on. His entry joins a long-standing interest in food and community with the discipline of marathon preparation.

Zarna Garg, the Indian American comedian and author of This American Woman, is preparing for her first marathon. Her career has already demonstrated the possibilities of starting a new chapter; now she is taking that willingness to begin onto the roads with Team Maybelline.

Camila Ramón was born in Argentina and grew up in Miami. The Peloton instructor teaches in Spanish and English, bringing a bilingual audience into fitness. Her New York entry is another reason for that community to see its own experiences reflected on the course.

Mariana Fernández comes from Tampico, Mexico, and has taught bilingual yoga classes in Mexico City and New York. Running is also part of her life away from the studio. Her presence connects the marathon with people who may first have discovered movement through yoga, walking or a class rather than a race.

P-Lo, the Filipino American rapper and producer, has already completed the San Francisco and Oakland marathons. In his own account, New York has been a long-held ambition. His community running work and music offer different ways of bringing people together; this weekend those worlds meet over 26.2 miles.

Karen Sarahi Gonzalez has a marathon achievement beyond her work as a beauty creator and entrepreneur: a 3:37:47 New York finish in 2024. She returns with Team Maybelline, adding another chapter to a running history that her followers can watch develop.

Inez Chuidian may be less familiar to celebrity-watchers, but her sporting story belongs here. She represented the Philippines at the 2024 Touch Rugby World Cup and plays for Yale Women’s Rugby. She is returning to running after knee surgery and raising money for Team Commonpoint. Her own account describes renewed appreciation for being able to move—a powerful reason to take on New York.

Jesús Trejo is a Greenville-based community runner selected for NYRR’s Team Inspire. He has spoken publicly about being autistic and wanting his running to challenge misconceptions about autism, particularly in the Latino community. His story broadens this article beyond familiar faces: recognition can come from the courage to start and the people a runner hopes to encourage.

Sources: Antoni Porowski: official biography · NYRR: announced 2026 notable runners · Zarna Garg: official biography · Runner’s World: Zarna Garg’s marathon debut · Time Out: the 2026 entertainment field · Peloton: Camila Ramón · Peloton: Mariana Fernández · Men’s Journal: P-Lo’s own running story · NYRR: 2024 celebrity finish report · Inez Chuidian: her Team Commonpoint fundraising page · NYRR: Jesús Trejo’s Team Inspire story

Sporting lives that keep finding new directions

Tiki Barber has made marathon running a substantial part of life after the NFL. The former New York Giants running back ran his first marathon here in 2014, initially taking on the challenge for charity. Returning to the course years later says plenty about the lasting place running can find in an athlete’s life.

Rich Roll arrives with an endurance background reaching far beyond a single road race. The author and podcast host competed at the Ultraman World Championships and completed the EPIC5 challenge in 2010: five iron-distance triathlons on five Hawaiian islands within a week. New York adds a shared city celebration to a career associated with long personal challenges.

Oz Pearlman is known as a mentalist, but his endurance achievements stand on their own. In April 2022 he completed 19 Central Park loops in 17 hours, 40 minutes and 59 seconds, documented by Fastest Known Time. The marathon’s finish will take him back to a park where he has already spent an extraordinary day on foot.

Noelle Lambert brings Paralympic experience to the field. Representing the United States, she placed fourth in the T63 long jump at Paris 2024 with 4.66 metres. Also known to Survivor viewers, she is part of Team Maybelline. Her athletic record deserves to lead the introduction, alongside the different demands she is accepting in the marathon.

Justin Britt, the former NFL player and mental-health advocate, is running for NYRR Team for Kids. His entry directs attention towards opportunities for children to be active, while he takes on the very different pacing demands of a marathon.

Darby Allin, the AEW wrestler, is supporting KultureCity. Wrestling and marathon running ask different things of the body, and he is committing to a challenge far beyond the ring.

Sam Judge is a KultureCity board member as well as a returning marathon runner. NYRR recorded Samantha Judge’s 2025 finish at 3:32:34. Her involvement gives the charity both sustained support and a personal sporting commitment—achievements that deserve their own recognition alongside her connection to Yankees captain Aaron Judge.

Sources: NYRR: Tiki Barber on starting marathons · Rich Roll: endurance career · Fastest Known Time: Oz Pearlman’s Central Park challenge · International Paralympic Committee: Paris 2024 long jump · NYRR: announced 2026 notable runners · ABC7: the announced 2026 field · KultureCity: Sam Judge’s board role · NYRR: 2025 celebrity finish report

The coaches becoming competitors

Robin Arzón has helped many people find confidence in exercise. Her own plans include a ninth New York City Marathon, within an endurance history spanning marathons and ultras. For an instructor so closely associated with encouragement, returning to the same demanding course is a visible example of continuing to practise what she teaches.

Matt Wilpers was a Division I distance runner before becoming a familiar Peloton coach. His 2:58:25 London Marathon finish this year shows an established road-running background. New York gives the people who train with him another chance to cheer their coach as an athlete.

Alex Karwoski brings years of rowing experience to Peloton and now to this marathon field. His career has been built around endurance and the satisfaction of gradual improvement. The move from rowing to a long road race still deserves respect on its own terms.

Ash Pryor is a championship-winning rower, author and rowing-academy founder as well as a Peloton instructor. Her work has opened doors in a sport where representation matters. Taking on New York adds another visible athletic challenge to that record.

Zacharias Niedzwiecki combines yoga teaching and strength-focused movement with a background in opera performance. His place in the field is a reminder that runners arrive through many kinds of training.

Sources: NYRR: announced 2026 notable runners · NOBULL: Robin Arzón’s New York plans · Peloton: Matt Wilpers · The Clip Out: Matt Wilpers at London 2026 · Peloton: Alex Karwoski · Peloton: Ash Pryor · Peloton: Zacharias Niedzwiecki

Television names building running lives of their own

Kyle Fraser, the Survivor season 48 winner, explicitly described New York as his first marathon in a September interview. He is running for the Chelsea Piers Foundation. For him, the finish line would mark a new sporting first after an already memorable television achievement.

Mitch Guerra, also from Survivor season 48, arrives with a different endurance background. In his own cast interview he described completing a marathon, a 20-mile trail race and an Ironman 70.3. He joins Fraser in supporting the Chelsea Piers Foundation, bringing experience of sustained effort across running and triathlon.

Matt James has become a familiar name in New York’s running field. The Bachelor star recorded 3:00:20 here in 2024, an excellent performance close to the three-hour mark. His return is another example of television visibility growing into a continuing commitment to the sport.

Zac Clark finished New York in 3:27:33 in 2025. The Release Recovery founder’s running is closely connected with a community supporting recovery. Returning to the course continues that relationship between personal discipline and helping others.

Joe Amabile returns after a 3:49:53 finish in 2025. The Bachelor franchise personality is again associated with Release Recovery. His previous result gives supporters a concrete part of his running story to celebrate, whatever his ambitions are this year.

Carl Radke completed New York in 4:04:25 last year. The Summer House personality is running for Release Recovery, adding his effort to a cause shared by several entrants. Another training cycle is another commitment worth recognising.

Tayshia Adams is an established New York finisher, with NYRR recording 4:39:21 in 2024. The television host returns with Team Maybelline. Her continued participation helps make running visible to an audience that may first know her from entertainment.

Vinny Guadagnino has already taken his Jersey Shore fame onto the marathon course: he finished New York in 4:19:44 in 2024. That gives this year’s appearance a place in an existing running history, rather than treating it as a one-day celebrity novelty.

Chloe Lukasiak, known from Dance Moms, finished New York in 5:14:48 in 2025. She is supporting TheaterWorksUSA this year. Her return brings together a performing background, a charitable purpose and the experience of having covered this distance before.

Nēv Schulman is an experienced New York runner who has also guided athletes with disabilities. This year the Catfish host plans to pace Laura Perlongo towards her sub-3:30 target. Sharing someone else’s goal gives an established runner a different kind of challenge, and offers supporters a partnership to follow through the five boroughs.

Laura Perlongo made her marathon debut here in 2025, finishing in 3:40:05. Since then she has founded McCarren Kids Track Club and developed her coaching, helping children discover the sport. She returns with a sub-3:30 goal and Nēv Schulman planning to pace her. It is a story about her own progression, and about passing the enjoyment of running to the next generation.

Luke Gulbranson, known from Summer House, is supporting Blood Cancer United. His announced entry adds another charitable purpose to the field.

Blake Horstmann has developed a DJ and production career alongside his Bachelor franchise appearances. In New York he is running for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The finish line offers a different reward from a successful set, with supporters able to celebrate both the effort and the cause.

Hannah Ann Sluss is joining Team Nanit. The Bachelor personality is part of a group bringing parent athletes into the marathon conversation—a welcome reminder that training often has to fit around family routines and responsibilities.

Greg Grippo has a sporting background that predates The Bachelorette. He played college basketball at Saint Michael’s and captained the team in his final season. His announced marathon entry takes that experience of training and competition into a very different endurance test.

Andrew Spencer played college football at Winona State, earning first-team All-American recognition in 2017, before becoming familiar through The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise. His New York entry is another way for viewers to see the athlete behind the television personality.

Chelley Bissainthe brings a Love Island USA audience to the running field through Team Maybelline. Her announced entry offers fans a chance to support the work behind a physical challenge.

Cory Wharton is supporting The Children’s Heart Foundation. The television personality’s New York entry gives that cause a place in the weekend’s conversation.

Allison Kucharczyk, also known as Allison Kuch, co-hosts Couldn’t Agree Less with Isaac Rochell. She is running with Team Maybelline. Her participation connects an audience familiar with her conversations about everyday life to the practical commitment of making time for marathon training.

Sources: NYRR: announced 2026 notable runners · InsideHook: Kyle Fraser on his first marathon · Time Out: the 2026 entertainment field · Parade: Mitch Guerra’s endurance background · NYRR: 2024 celebrity finish report · NYRR: 2025 celebrity finish report · amNY: Nēv Schulman’s plans with Laura Perlongo · Runners of NYC: Laura Perlongo’s first marathon and coaching · Insomniac: Blake Horstmann’s music career · ABC7: the announced 2026 field · Saint Michael’s: Greg Grippo’s basketball career · Winona State: Andrew Spencer’s football career · Netflix: Couldn’t Agree Less

Music, journalism and stories told on the road

Casey Neistat has documented years of running alongside his filmmaking. His 2:57:48 New York finish in 2024 was followed by 2:57:41 in 2025. Those sub-three-hour performances show sustained work behind the camera-facing story. He is announced to return in support of NYRR Team for Kids.

Del Water Gap, the musical project of Holden Jaffe, has a marathon connection beyond this weekend’s announcement. In a 2025 interview, Jaffe described running the Los Angeles Marathon and the positive place its training had found in his life. New York offers another occasion for listeners to cheer him away from the stage.

N.O.R.E. returns after completing New York in 5:10:41 in 2025. The rapper’s involvement brings another music audience into running, with his Run Champs crew part of this year’s story. His previous finish is a reminder that persistence matters at every pace.

Mychal Threets, the librarian and Reading Rainbow presenter, is running with the CMAK Foundation’s Race4Chase team. He has explained that the effort honours Chase Kowalski and the children and teachers lost at Sandy Hook. His familiar message of community and kindness finds a practical expression in the miles he is preparing to run.

Liz Cho is preparing for her first New York City Marathon, according to her own station’s coverage. The WABC-TV anchor is fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association in honour of colleague Bill Ritter.

Mike Marza ran his first marathon in New York in 2025, finishing in 3:53:42. He returns for a second attempt alongside Liz Cho in support of the Alzheimer’s Association. His experience of the full distance adds a useful perspective to their shared preparation and fundraising.

Errol Barnett, the CBS News anchor and correspondent, has already shared the experience of running his first New York marathon in under four hours. His own running videos describe what he learned from the difficult miles. Returning gives him another opportunity to put that experience into practice and encourage viewers considering a challenge of their own.

Brian Cheung, NBC News’ business and data correspondent, previously worked at Yahoo Finance. The marathon turns the focus from reporting other people’s stories to undertaking a personal sporting challenge.

Matt Brickman followed a path from journalism into meteorology and now presents the weather on NBC 4 New York. This weekend viewers can offer a different kind of support from the roadside as he takes on the city’s marathon.

T.J. Holmes has already experienced a long day on this course: NYRR records his 2024 finish at 4:41:41. The journalist’s return adds another chapter to that history, with the familiar challenge of managing an effort across all five boroughs.

Meredith Kopit Levien has led The New York Times Company as chief executive since 2020. For this weekend she is part of the Run for Reporting campaign, supporting journalism education. A shared professional cause is becoming a very personal physical commitment.

Diane Brayton, The New York Times Company’s chief legal officer, joins colleagues in the Run for Reporting effort. Her work also includes serving on the Committee to Protect Journalists board. The marathon gives that commitment to journalism another public expression through the work of preparing and running.

Sources: NYRR: 2024 celebrity finish report · NYRR: 2025 celebrity finish report · NYRR: announced 2026 notable runners · People: Del Water Gap on marathon training · Time Out: the 2026 entertainment field · Mychal Threets: his Race4Chase announcement · ABC7: the announced 2026 field · ABC7: Liz Cho and Mike Marza’s charity run · NYRR: Mike Marza’s first-marathon account · Errol Barnett: his own running story · Broadcasting & Cable: Brian Cheung’s career · Scholastic: Matt Brickman’s own career story · World Economic Forum: Meredith Kopit Levien · Legal 500: Diane Brayton

A finish worth celebrating at every pace

The stories differ, but the commitment is shared. A fast returning runner still has to respect the distance. A first-timer still has to trust the work. A parent, performer or retired footballer still has to find the hours to prepare. Their visibility can help a charity, introduce someone to running or give a supporter the courage to begin.

New York’s applause will reach runners chasing very different finish times. Each of them has a place in the day. Here is to the training already done, the causes carried through the five boroughs, and the satisfaction of reaching Central Park with a new story to tell.