USA Marathons & Marathoners 2008

USA Marathoning: 2008 Overview
By MarathonGuide.com Staff

Each year, MarathonGuide.com puts out a report detailing the statistics of the year in USA marathoning. You will find no other report this comprehensive or this accurate and we're proud to bring this to you exclusively on MarathonGuide.com.

Sections below: Total Finishers Largest Marathons Inaugural Marathons Finishing Times Marathon Course Limits Marathon Seasonality

2008 Total Marathon Finishers and Overall Demographics 2008 saw a record number of marathon finishes in the USA, with a 4.7% growth in the number of marathon finishers from 2007 to 2008. Just over 425,000 marathon finishing times were recorded in the USA in 2008 - an increase from the 407,000 finishes in 2007. The number of male finishers increased by 3.1%, while the number of female finishers grew by a staggering 7.1%. Of great interest (at least to us) is that after a year of declining female participitation (by percentage), in 2008 women achieved a record percentage of total finishers at nearly 40.4% - the highest percentage ever. In total, we know of 372 marathons that took place in the USA in 2008, which was up from an estimated 340 in 2007. With the growth in total number of marathons, the average size of marathons dipped to its lowest number of the decade: 1,144 - but the average is still a skewed number pulled up by the largest marathons in the country. Like the average, the median size of marathons fell in 2008, with the median size of a marathon falling to a low of 213 finishers.

2008 Overall Demographics   Percent Avg. Age Avg. Time* Men 59.6% 40.4 4:26:51 Women 40.4% 36.5 4:56:44 All Runners 100.0% 38.8 4:38:55 *Net Time used where available

Historical Total USA Marathon Finishers
Marathoning in the USA continued its consistent upward growth in 2008 - furthering a trend that has been in place over recent years with the exception of a dip in 2001 due to the terrorist activities of 9/11.

A major portion of the growth in 2008 can be attributed to six marathons which between them added over 15,000 new marathon finishes: the inaugural Rock N Roll San Antonio Marathon with 7,500 finishers (offset by the loss of 1,200 finishes attributable to the prior San Antonio Marathon which it replaced), a rebound in the numbers finishing the Chicago Marathon after its partial cancellation in 2007, huge growth at the Disney Marathon and good starting numbers from the inaugural 26.2 for Donna and Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. Properties owned by Devine Racing continued to lead the list of decliners as both the LA Marathon and Las Vegas Marathon shed more than 15% of each of their fields, losing more than 3,000 and 600 finishers respectively. After a disappointing inaugural display and following on the heels of a tornado, the Georgia Marathon also gave back more than 2,200 finishers - more than half of the field from its inaugural year. As has been the trend, however, approximately 2/3 of all marathons saw some growth and the industry seemed healthy across the board.

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Total Finishers	299,000	295,000	324,000	334,000	362000	383,000	397,000	407,000	425,000
Year-to-Year Growth		-1.3%	9.8%	3.1%	8.4%	5.8%	3.8%	2.3%	4.6%
Percent Male	62.5%	62.1%	61.5%	60.9%	60.5%	60.0%	60.1%	60.5%	59.6%
Percent Female	37.5%	37.9%	38.5%	39.1%	39.5%	40.0%	39.9%	39.5%	40.4%

2008 Largest USA Marathons
The list and order of top marathons remained generally the same as in the previous year, with the same races maintaing their position in the top ten with just some small shuffling of position. Meaningfully, the Boston Marathon catapulted into the third spot - gaining a top three position by size to match what most consider to be its spot among the top three marathons by prestige. As with the top 10, the ranks of the largest 25 marathons stayed relatively stable with the Rock N Roll San Antonio Marathon debuting high in the list and the Georgia Marathon falling out of the top 25 - all the way from number 19 to number 35. The marathons in the top 25 accounted for 63.3% of all marathon finishes in 2008, down from 65.5% of all finishes in 2007 as many mid-sized marathons saw solid growth in 2008.

Marathon Name	2008 Finishers	2008 Rank	2007 Rank	Growth 2007 to 2008
New York City Marathon	37,790	1	1	-2.0%
Chicago Marathon	31,343	2	2	8.8%
Boston Marathon	21,963	3	5	7.9%
Honolulu Marathon	20,058	4	3	-3.1%
Marine Corps Marathon	18,219	5	4	-11.7%
City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)	16,941	6	6	-15.4%
Rock 'n' Roll Marathon	16,373	7	7	2.6%
Disney World Marathon	12,951	8	8	18.4%
Twin Cities Marathon	7,966	9	10	10.4%
Portland Marathon	7,856	10	9	8.7%
Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon	7,525	11	Inaugural	N/A
Philadelphia Marathon	7,230	12	13	8.4%
Grandma's Marathon	6,875	13	12	-0.3%
Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon	6,453	14	11	-7.0%
Houston Marathon	5,592	15	14	4.9%
California International Marathon	5,198	16	17	9.6%
St. George Marathon	5,030	17	15	-2.4%
Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon	4,881	18	22	17.6%
Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon	4,725	19	25	19.0%
Austin Marathon	4,646	20	18	2.1%
Country Music Marathon	4,373	21	16	-8.5%
The San Francisco Marathon	4,354	22	20	2.4%
Dallas White Rock Marathon	3,878	23	23	-3.5%
Columbus Marathon	3,869	24	24	-2.8%
Las Vegas Marathon	3,517	25	21	-15.3%
Detroit Free Press International Marathon	3,515	26	26	-6.1%
Big Sur International Marathon	3,191	27	28	3.2%
Baltimore Marathon	3,102	28	29	22.2%
Richmond Marathon	2,994	29	27	-18.6%
Long Beach International City Marathon	2,656	30	32	13.6%
Miami Marathon	2,641	31	30	4.8%
Vermont City Marathon	2,379	32	31	-5.0%
Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon	2,292	33	37	22.0%
Memphis Marathon	2,210	34	36	14.9%
Georgia Marathon	2,132	35	19	-50.9%
Seattle Marathon	2,128	36	33	5.8%
Bataan Memorial Death March	2,070	37	34	3.7%
Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon	1,964	38	42	23.3%
Lakefront Marathon	1,952	39	40	16.8%
Hartford Marathon	1,894	40	44	20.6%
Cleveland Marathon	1,867	41	35	-6.1%
Air Force Marathon	1,798	42	41	9.4%
Napa Valley Marathon	1,757	43	57	42.0%
Eugene Marathon	1,741	44	49	16.4%
Denver Marathon	1,717	45	46	9.9%
Top of Utah Marathon	1,713	46	48	13.2%
New Jersey Marathon	1,699	47	45	8.4%
Myrtle Beach Marathon	1,686	48	39	-4.5%
26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer	1,679	49	Inaugural	N/A
Green Bay Marathon	1,628	50	52	24.2%

2008 USA Inaugural Marathons
There were approximately 30 inaugural marathons in 2008 and most were relatively small. Just three of the inaugural marathons had over 1,000 finishers. The Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon, which debuted as the 11th largest marathon in the USA with 7,500+ finishers - continuing the trend of Elite Racing's mega-inaugural races (in chronological order, debuts over 5,000 runners: Rock N Roll Marathon-1998, Country Music Marathon-2000, Rock N Roll Arizona-2004, Rock N Roll San Antonio-2008). 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer, and the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon were the only other two debut marathons to crack the 1,000 finisher mark in 2008.

2008 Age Group Breakdown AgeGroup Avg. Time Percent Of Total Percent of Sex F0-19 5:41:35 0.72% 1.78% F20-24 4:52:01 3.71% 9.16% F25-29 4:50:33 7.72% 19.06% F30-34 4:51:58 6.55% 16.18% F35-39 4:50:18 6.55% 16.18% F40-44 4:50:36 5.88% 14.52% F45-49 4:59:27 4.47% 11.04% F50-54 5:15:08 2.73% 6.74% F55-59 5:36:00 1.29% 3.19% F60-64 5:51:58 0.60% 1.48% F65-69 6:13:41 0.20% 0.50% F70+ 6:41:58 0.07% 0.18% M0-19 5:06:18 1.13% 1.89% M20-24 4:24:12 3.40% 5.72% M25-29 4:21:38 6.70% 11.27% M30-34 4:21:08 7.81% 13.12% M35-39 4:20:27 9.56% 16.07% M40-44 4:18:44 9.34% 15.70% M45-49 4:22:09 8.21% 13.79% M50-54 4:31:26 6.23% 10.46% M55-59 4:44:01 3.71% 6.23% M60-64 5:00:39 2.13% 3.58% M65-99 5:18:05 0.86% 1.44% M70+ 5:46:33 0.43% 0.73%

Age Demographics Between 2007 and 2008, the average age of marathon finishers decreased by a statistically irrelevant 0.1 years across the board: overall average from 38.9 to 38.8 years old, average men's age from 40.5 to 40.4 years, and aveage women's age stayed the same at 36.5 years old. In 2008, the average finishing times for all marathoners decreased by three minutes (men from 4:29:52 to 4:26:51, women from 4:59:28 to 4:56:44; overall from 4:41:33 to 4:38:55). A number of factors could be responsible for the faster times, but one likely factor was the effect of the unseasonably warm weather slowing the Fall 2007 finishing times. Fastest Age Groups In keeping with historic trends, the fastest average age-group remained men aged 40-44, with a mean finishing time of 4:18:44. Among women, the fastest average times were posted by 35-39 year-olds, who averaged 4:50:18 for their finishes, just ahead of women aged 25-29 and women aged 40-44. Largest Age Groups The Men's 35-39 age group was the largest single group, accounting for nearly 10% of all marathoners and more than 16% of male marathoners, with men aged 40-44 just behind in the numbers. For women, the largest group was females between ages 25-29 representing more than 19% of all female finishers.

2008 Marathon Finishing Times Marathon times in the USA in 2007 ranged from 2:06:25 (Evans Cheruiyot at the Chicago Marathon) to over 14 hours (some of the participants at the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon and Honolulu Marathons). The chart at the right shows the breakdown of times from the fastest to the slowest. Fastest Marathoners Just 1.7% of all marathon finishes - just over 8,000 - broke the 3 hour mark - a goal for the faster marathoners and a record for this figure. Marathoners in the Middle Statisticians like to talk about median (the middle person) and mean (the average) and standard deviation (how tightly grouped results are around the mean. For all marathon finishes, the median was 4:28:20, while the average was 4:38:53 with a standard deviation of 1:04:37. For men, the median finishing time was 4:16:40, while the average was 4:26:49 with a standard deviation of 1:01:27; and for women the median was 4:45:11, while the average was 4:56:44 with a standard deviation of 1:05:04. Standard deviation is a measure of how tightly grouped the data is and statistically, 68.3% of results will be between 1 standard deviation of the mean and 95.4% of results will be within 2 standard deviations of the mean.

2008 Finishing Times by Half Hour Finish Time* Total % Female % Male % 2:06:25-2:29:59 574 0.1% 20 0.0% 554 0.2% 2:30:01-3:00:00 7,433 1.7% 712 0.4% 6,721 2.6% 3:00:00-3:30:00 37,023 8.7% 5,654 3.3% 31,369 12.4% 3:30:00-4:00:00 83,727 19.7% 25,528 14.9% 58,199 22.9% 4:00:00-4:29:59 89,295 21.0% 35,367 20.6% 53,928 21.3% 4:30:00-4:59:59 79,378 18.7% 35,792 20.8% 43,586 17.2% 5:00:00-5:30:00 50,316 11.8% 24,818 14.5% 25,498 10.0% 5:30:00-5:59:59 33,866 8.0% 17,898 10.4% 15,968 6.3% 6:00:00-6:29:59 18,641 4.4% 10,755 6.3% 7,886 3.1% 6:30:00-7:00:00 11,775 2.8% 7,184 4.2% 4,591 1.8% 7:00:00-7:29:59 5,700 1.3% 3,543 2.1% 2,157 0.9% 7:30:00-8:00:00 3,190 0.7% 1,945 1.1% 1,245 0.5% 8:00:00-8:29:59 1,905 0.4% 1,110 0.6% 795 0.3% 8:30:00-8:59:54 1,099 0.3% 644 0.4% 455 0.2% 9:00:05-21:41:47 1,566 0.4% 764 0.4% 802 0.3% Total 425,488 100% 171,734 100% 253,754 100% *based on chip time, when available

Marathon Seasonality
Nearly one-third of races and more than 50% of all marathon finishes took place during the 4th quarter of the year (October, November, December) with October being the busiest month and alone accounting for 15% of all races and more than 25% of all finishes. May leaped into the second spot for number of marathons, while September accounted for the third largest number of marathons but the third fewest number of participants - an anomaly underlining the large number of smaller races that take place during that month.