Posted: June 16, 2005

Athletics: Road Running Information Center's State of the Sport: Part I, The Runner

Runner Numbers
Sports participation studies recently published by American Sports Data, Inc. [ASD] and National Sporting Goods Association [NSGA] confirm that all is well in the running world. ASD's 18th annual "Superstudy of Sports Participation" estimates that there were 37,310,000 runners in the U.S. in 2004. That total has increased four years in a row and has ranged between 33 and 37 million since 1987, the first year of that ASD publication. The ASD estimate for 'Frequent Runners' (ran or jogged more than 100 days in 2004) continued to hover around 10 million with 10,321,000.

NSGA estimates reported in the annual "Sports Participation in 2004 Series I" were higher for all categories of runners compared to the previous year. People who ran or jogged at least 6 times during 2004 were estimated at 24,665,000 and the number of 'Frequent Runners' by NSGA's definition (ran or jogged 110+days/year) was 6,403,000 compared to 6,082,000 in 2003. That 5.3% increase was actually 9.9% on the male side with no change for the females. On the other hand, females have been joining the ranks of the more casual runners faster than men. From 1999 to 2004, NSGA estimates for female runners increased by 13.6% (10,110,000 to 11,483,000) compared to 7.6% for males (12,256,000 to 13,183,000).

The popularity of running among younger women noticed in recent years continued in 2004. The largest age group for female runners in the NSGA data was '18 to 24 years' with 2,449,000 participants followed closely by '12 to 17' with 2,396,000 and '25 to 34' with 2,287,000. The largest age group for male runners was '25 to 34 years' with 3,148,000 participants.

Where Runners Live
The latest Geographic Supplement of the ASD Superstudy identified the following metro areas with the largest per capita running populations (average over the last 3 years):

Rank	City	Total Runners (ave. 2002-2004)	Participants per 100 people
1	Denver/Boulder/Greeley	446,000	18.9
2	San Diego	555,000	18.9
3	San Antonio	303,000	18.3
4	San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose	1,227,000	17.8
5	Phoenix/Mesa	509,000	17.5

Surprisingly, San Antonio was the only one that was also in the top 5 in the 2002 report which averaged participant numbers from 1999 to 2001. The top metro areas for overall runner totals were 1) L.A./Riverside/Orange County with an average of 2,594,000 participants; 2) NY/NJ/CT/PA with 2,198,000 and 3) Washington DC with 1,361,000.

The Geographic Supplement also includes data on 48 states. The following had the largest annual average of runner numbers from 2002 to 2004:

Rank	State	Total Runners (ave. 2002-2004) Participants per 100 people
1	California	5,616,000	17.5
2	Texas	3,089,000	15.8
3	New York	2,127,000	13.1
4	Florida	1,647,000	12.4
5	Ohio	1,465,000	13.3

Ethnicity of Runners
American Sports Data, Inc. recently released findings of a new study "Race, Ethnicity and Sports Participation in the U.S." In order to more accurately reflect the true diversity of sports, ASD supplemented the Superstudy mail survey panel of 25,000 with an oversample of 3000 minority households.

This study should be of particular interest to the running community because it challenges some perceptions of the running market. Whereas it's true that the running population in many communities is predominantly white, the report implies that running is more popular, or at least more prevalent, in the African-American, Hispanic and Asian communities as listed below:

Total Participants

Ethnic Group	Total Runners	Runners per 100 people
White	22,424,000	12.4
Black	4,474,000	14.3
Hispanic (of any race)	6,369,000	18.0
Asian	2,312,000	21.6

Sources
ASD = American Sports Data, Inc.'s "Superstudy of Sports Participation 2004, Volume I", "Geographic Supplement" and "Race Ethnicity and Sports Participation in the U.S.". To obtain information on sports demographic products and services offered, contact: Harvey Lauer at American Sports Data, Inc., 15 Kent Dr, Cortlandt Manor, NY 10567, (914) 461-3271 or go to AmericanSportsData.com.

NSGA = National Sporting Goods Association's Sports Participation Series I for 1999, 2003 and 2004. To obtain information on any of the NSGA products and services email info@nsga.org, phone (847) 296-6742 or go to NSGA.org.

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
385 Oak View Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93111

(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 967-5958
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.runningusa.org.