NYRR Is Putting On Three Free Beginner Run-Walks On NYC’s Car-Free Streets This Summer

If you’ve ever wanted to run down the middle of Park Avenue with no cars in sight, this summer is your chance, for free. New York Road Runners is expanding its free NYRR Start Line Series, a set of beginner-friendly run/walks held on the car-free corridors of the NYC Department of Transportation’s Summer Streets, the organization announced.

After an inaugural 2025 that drew more than 1,100 participants across two events in Queens and Brooklyn, the series grows to three events in two new boroughs this year. All are beginner-geared, roughly three miles, and completely free to enter:

• Long Island City, Queens — Saturday, July 25
• Park Avenue, Manhattan — Saturday, August 1
• Grand Concourse, The Bronx — Saturday, August 22

Registration is open now at nyrr.org.

Lowering The Barrier

It’s easy to scroll past a regional event listing, but this one is worth a beat, because it’s a template for lowering the barrier to running. No entry fee, no qualifying time, no experience needed, held on iconic streets temporarily closed to traffic. That combination, free plus a genuinely special car-free setting, is exactly the kind of thing that turns curious non-runners into runners. For anyone who’s ever wanted to start, a free three-mile run/walk on closed streets is about as welcoming an on-ramp as the sport offers.

NYRR CEO Rob Simmelkjaer tied the expansion directly to the organization’s bigger year: “Expanding the initiative into Manhattan and The Bronx this year is particularly exciting as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 5-boro New York City Marathon this fall.”

The Free Programs Behind The Marathon

The Start Line Series is one visible piece of a much larger free-access effort that tends to get overshadowed by the TCS New York City Marathon. NYRR runs weekly community Open Runs in 16 parks (nearly 17,000 participants), a youth program reaching more than 100,000 city kids, a walking program for older adults across 20 locations, and a Race Free scheme providing entry assistance that is set to double the athletes it serves in 2026 and 2027. All told, the nonprofit says it reaches more than half a million people a year.

Summer Streets itself, run by NYC DOT since 2008 and now spanning all five boroughs, will open more than 20 miles of car-free corridors this year. In Manhattan the streets are open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., with later hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

If you’re in New York and even vaguely curious about running, this is the rare event with no reason not to show up. It costs nothing, it welcomes complete beginners, and you’ll never get a better excuse to jog down the middle of Park Avenue.