Posted: July 18, 2006

Athletics: 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

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

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 [ryan@runningusa.org] or Linda Honikman [rric@runningusa.org].

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232; Fax = (805) 659-0016
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.RunningUSA.org.

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