FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State of the Sport - Part III - Road Race Growth Trends and Largest Races
By Running USA's Road Running Information Center
The typical road race grew by about 2% in 2005, while the 100th largest
timed race had 4,238 finishers in 2005 compared to 3,923 in 2004 and 2,968
in 1991. When all related events such as walks are included (see the
Largest Festivals lists), the 100th festival had an estimated 11,000
entrants and 9,400 finishers. There were a total of 2.3 million
participants in the top 100 running festivals in 2005 compared to 2.1 in
2004. It would appear that there was extraordinary growth in races and
festivals with at least 5,000 participants (296 in 2005, up from 194 in
2004), but at least some of that increase can be attributed to improved
solicitation of race results to build the rankings produced by Running USA
and the Active Network.
As the tables below indicate, the 5K is still the dominant running event
distance in terms of number of events (52.9% of all U.S. certified courses)
and estimated number of finishers (38.3% in 2005), but the typical 5K is
low key and will probably not last as long as its longer distance cousins.
Total Estimated Finishers in U.S. Road Running Events
2005 Total % of Total % Change
Finishers Finishers from 2004
5 km 3,105,000 38.3% 2%
10 km 1,045,000 12.9% 1%
8 km/5mi 600,000 7.4% -2%
Half-Mar 536,000 6.6% 8%
1 mile 456,000 5.6% 1%
Marathon 432,000 5.3% 2%
10 mile 323,000 4.0% 1%
4 mile 218,000 2.7% 7%
15 km 215,000 2.7% 0%
20/25/30 km 122,000 1.5% -2%
12 km 107,000 1.3% -1%
Others 942,000 11.6% 3%
Total 8,101,000 100.0%
TOTAL Certified Courses as of March 2006
5K 5387 52.9%
10K 1518 14.9%
HM 553 5.4%
MAR 521 5.1%
1K/1M/2K/2M 409 4.0%
8K 378 3.7%
12K/15K/10M 369 3.6%
5M 324 3.2%
4M 193 1.9%
20K/25K/30K 132 1.3%
Ultras 90 0.9%
others 304 3.0%
10178 100.0%
New Courses Certified in 2005
5K 654 54.3%
10K 142 11.8%
HM 97 8.1%
MAR 90 7.5%
8K 45 3.7%
5M 30 2.5%
1M 27 2.2%
4M 18 1.5%
15K 16 1.3%
10M 13 1.1%
2M 6 0.5%
others 66 5.5%
1204 100.0%
Inaugural Races and the Marathon / Half-Marathon Combo Spur Growth
Since 2000, there have been two noteworthy growth areas in the sport:
inaugural races and the marathon / half-marathon combination.
Compared to 10-15 years ago, it is now relatively common for an inaugural
race to be "large" (>999 finishers). From 2000 to 2005, on average, there
have been 15 first-year U.S. road races per year with at least 1,000
finishers and an average of 2,954 finishers. The best year to-date for
inaugural races in this country has been 2004 with 18 such races averaging
3,900 finishers.
The marathon / half-marathon combination growth trend has been building
over the past 5 plus years, and the half-marathon has been leading the
growth charge not only as a stand-alone event (as noted in past RRIC State
of Sport Reports), but also as an addition to an established marathon
(e.g., Country Music) or part of an inaugural marathon / half-marathon
combo (e.g., P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona). Of the 25 largest M / HM
combos in the U.S., 16 of them have added a half-marathon since 2001 and
the result has been impressive growth as the largest 25 M / HM combos grew
80% from 2002 to 2005 (116,881 finishers vs. 210,779 finishers). In
addition, since 2001 in this country, over 55 marathons have added same day
half-marathons.
This upward trend should continue because in 2006 the Shamrock Sportsfest,
Salt Lake City, Columbus and New Las Vegas Marathons added half-marathons
to their race mix, while the inaugural Post-News Colorado Colfax and Denver
events are M / HM combos from the start.
For the vast majority of M / HM combos, the half-marathon is the larger
race, but both distances, on average, continue to grow. In the top 25 U.S.
combo list for 2005, only Grandma's and Austin Marathons are larger than
its respective half-marathon.
Finishers in Largest U.S. Marathon / Half-Marathon Combos in 2005
1) P.F. Chang’s RnR Arizona 23,213
2) Walt Disney World, FL 16,397
3) Country Music, TN 15,135
4) Nike 26.2, CA 12,542
5) HP Houston, TX 12,444
6) Grandma’s, MN 11,716
7) San Francisco, CA 10,397
8) Harrisdirect Seattle, WA 9,175
9) Freescale Austin, TX 8,756
10) Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank, MI 8,095
Also, this trend extends internationally as more marathons have added
half-marathons to grow their events. In 2005, the ING Amsterdam, adidas
Vancouver Int'l and ING Ottawa events reported combined M / HM finishers
greater than 10,000 (up from 2004).
Interestingly, the 7 largest U.S. marathons - ING New York City, LaSalle
Bank Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Marine Corps, Boston and Rock 'n' Roll
San Diego - have not added same day half-marathons; probably because of
their already large sizes (>17,000 finishers), overall logistics and
tradition.
The RRIC's largest races lists - for timed events, by distance, festivals
by state, women-only races, kids runs and the world - are now posted at the
Running USA website. To see where your favorite road race stacks up or who
is #1, go to: www.RunningUSA.org/cgi/evbig100.pl
RRIC = Running USA's Road Running Information Center. State of the Sport
reports, many types of running data and analysis and lists of the Largest
Races from past years can be found on RunningUSA.org in the 'Statistics'
section. For other questions about running trends and demographics, contact
Ryan Lamppa [] or Linda Honikman [].
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