New York, March 16, 2016—The 2016 United Airlines NYC Half, set for Sunday, March 20, will see 20,000 runners of all ages and abilities hit the streets of Manhattan, from top professional athletes to 1,000 youth runners competing in the NYRR Times Square Kids' Run. The event will feature a variety of sponsor activities that will engage runners and fans and build on the energy of NYRR’s signature half-marathon.

“The United Airlines NYC Half is the opening event of the NYRR Five-Borough Series—a celebration of Manhattan, and an entrée into the runner's journey through the five boroughs of NYC,” said Peter Ciaccia, president of events for New York Road Runners and the race director of the TCS New York City Marathon. “From our robust field of professional athletes leading the way, to our youngest competitors in Times Square, the streets of Manhattan will come alive on March 20 before fans along the course, and a global television audience who will experience the exciting event in their homes.”

“We are grateful to United Airlines and all of our race partners who support this great event on the streets of New York City,” said Michael Capiraso, president and CEO of New York Road Runners. “We look forward to welcoming our runners of all ages, volunteers, and fans to a celebratory week ahead, beginning with the exciting 2016 United Airlines NYC Half Experience on Thursday, and culminating with the inspiring 11th running of this NYC-favorite event.”

For the second consecutive year, the 2016 United Airlines NYC Half will host the NYRR Times Square Kids’ Run that will feature 1,000 youth runners—including 700 Young Runners from NYRR’s free youth running program—in an out-and-back race along Seventh Avenue and through Times Square. With divisions for high school, middle school, and elementary school students, and a new division for youth wheelchair racers, the event will provide young runners ages 7-18—from New York City’s five boroughs and beyond—with the opportunity to dash through Times Square alongside some of the world’s top professional athletes and half-marathoners of all abilities in the pursuit of a new personal best.

New York Road Runners and its partners will present a variety of exciting events and activities surrounding the 2016 United Airlines NYC Half that will enhance the race experience for runners and fans, and engage them in the lead up to the race and throughout race day. These official partner activities will be featured throughout the United Airlines NYC Half Experience Thursday-Saturday of race week, and along the 13.1-mile, Manhattan race course on Sunday, March 20. Activation highlights are included below, and a full list of this year’s United Airlines NYC Half partners is available at http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-events/2016/united-airlines-nyc-half.

United Airlines, with over 140 worldwide routes from the New York area, is an NYRR Foundation Partner and is the official airline of the TCS New York City Marathon and United Airlines NYC Half. United Airlines also serves as the official airline and a supporting sponsor of the other NYRR Five-Borough series events—the Airbnb Brooklyn Half, Queens 10K, New Balance Bronx 10-Mile, and the Staten Island Half.

In their second year as title sponsor, United Airlines will have prominent pre-race and race-day presence from start to finish at the 2016 United Airlines NYC Half, including interactive activities at the United Airlines NYC Half Experience, where runners go to pick up their race number, technical shirt, and bag-check bag. At the United Airlines NYC Half Experience, there will be a dedicated bib pick up for MileagePlus® Premier members, a mock finish line photo opportunity for runners and fans, giveaways, and an opportunity to meet United Airlines flight attendants. On race day, United Airlines will again host the United Airlines Entertainment Zone in Times Square and feature unique destination markers throughout the race course.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the world's leading IT services and consulting firms, is the Premier Partner of NYRR, the title sponsor of the TCS New York City Marathon, and Official Youth and Community Service Partner of NYRR. At the 2016 United Airlines NYC Half, TCS and NYRR worked together to continue the TCS Runfographics campaign that was introduced at the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon. These informative and fun data-driven illustrations that will be featured in social channels leading up to race week, at the United Airlines NYC Half Experience and on the race course on Sunday will feature content centered on Manhattan, the history of the race and of the half-marathon distance. 

TCS returns as the Mobile App developer for the United Airlines NYC Half. The 2016 United Airlines Mobile App Powered by Tata Consultancy Services features an interactive United Airlines NYC Half Experience map, live on-map tracking of up to 20 runners on race day, a 2017 entry sweepstakes, and a number of other features. Developed by Tata Consultancy Services, the app is available for download free of charge at the iTunes Store and Google Play Store.

TCS has also teamed up with NYRR to offer the NYRR Running Lab at the United Airlines NYC Half Experience, designed to aid runners with their race day strategies. NYRR coaches will walk runners through a mile-by-mile course strategy session via Course Strategy Sessions, powered by TCS. The NYRR Race Predictor, also powered by TCS, will take use a runner’s data, including training paces and recent race times—combined with historical United Airlines NYC Half results and splits—to calculate the best strategy and predicted finish time for runners. Pace bands will be available to help keep runners on track throughout the race.

The professional athlete field for the United Airlines NYC Half features a number of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls and qualifiers. American distance star and the defending champion, Molly Huddle, is returning. Kenyan Olympic hopefuls Stephen Sambu, Joyce Chepkirui, and Caroline Rotich, will headline a stacked international field that also includes New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games hero Zane Robertson and Ireland’s two-time Olympian Fionnuala McCormack.

In the professional wheelchair division, the defending champions and event-record holders, South Africa’s Ernst Van Dyk and Switzerland’s Manuela Schär, will headline a strong professional wheelchair racing field. The pair will be joined by U.S. racing sensation and 11-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden, who will look to better her third-place performance from the 2015 United Airlines NYC Half.

To kick off race weekend, the United Airlines NYC Half Experience will open at Metropolitan Pavilion on Thursday, March 17, at 10:00 a.m. Runners will pick up their race numbers, and will be treated to an array of activities and programming, including, a café operated by Eataly that will feature on-the-go food and a selection from their family of wines, daily performances by musicians from the MTA Music Under New York program, samples from United Airlines NYC Half product partners Gatorade, Powerbar, and Poland Spring, and more.

Runners will be able to celebrate their 2016 United Airlines NYC Half finish at more than a dozen Old Seaport Alliance businesses that are offering special deals and discounts on race day. Please click here to view the participating restaurants and deals and discounts.

There are a variety of ways to tune in and watch the 2016 United Airlines NYC Half locally, nationally, and internationally. 

·         WABC-TV, Channel 7

Live coverage of the race in New York on WABC-TV, Channel 7 from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. EDT, following the action from start to finish

·         Livestream—Watch ABC and ABC7NY.com

Live streaming on Watch ABC from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. EDT and on abc7ny.com from 7:00 to 10:30 a.m. EDT

·         ESPN3 via WatchESPN

Outside of the New York area, coverage will be available on ESPN3 via WatchESPN from 7:00 to 10:30 a.m. EDT on computers, tablets, smartphones, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One for those who have video or internet subscriptions with affiliated providers

·         International Broadcast

International viewers can watch the broadcast from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. EDT via a variety of global broadcast partners covering more than 120 countries, with a household reach of 469 million. (International viewers should check local listings.)

The 2015 United Airlines NYC Half had 19,454 finishers from nearly all 50 states and at least 67 countries. For the first time ever, the NYRR Times Square Kids’ Run at the United Airlines NYC Half gave hundreds of kids the opportunity to participate in a race of their own. Over five million dollars was raised by more than 2,800 charity runners during the 2015 United Airlines NYC Half to help more than 100 nonprofit organizations support their missions and services.

For media interested in covering the 2016 United Airlines NYC Half, please email Emily Gallagher at egallagher@nyrr.org and specify which race area you’d like to cover the event from – start, finish or media center.

About the United Airlines NYC Half

Founded in 1958, New York Road Runners has grown from a local running club to the world’s premier community running organization, whose mission is to help and inspire people through running. The United Airlines NYC Half is NYRR’s signature half-marathon, and the opening event of the NYRR Five-Borough Series. The race features a talented American and international professional athlete field, competitive, recreational, and charity runners, 2,200 volunteers and thousands of spectators. The event offers the quintessential New York experience—a 13.1-mile tour of the Big Apple like no other—from the rolling hills of Central Park, up to Harlem, down through Times Square, along the Hudson River waterfront, to a finish in lower Manhattan. United Airlines, New York area's largest airline, is the title sponsor of the United Airlines NYC Half and an NYRR foundation partner. To learn more, visit unitedairlinesnychalf.nyrr.org.