2007 State of the Sport Part IIIa: American Road Race Numbers – Half-marathon again leads the charge in U.S. road race growth

Road running events in the U.S. grew across all distances and sizes in 2006 with a total of 8.535 million finishers. The annual RRIC estimates for the number of race finishers, road running events and active USATF certified courses are provided below. The average increase for running event finishers was 5% with a range between -2% for the 12K (the only decline) and a 10% increase for the half-marathon.

The 5K – the most popular distance since 1994 – accounted for 38% of all finishers and 50% of the events in 2006. The half-marathon had the most momentum of the common race distances with at least 10% more finishers and 10% more events from 2005 to 2006.

Estimated Finishers in U.S. Road Running Events
2006 Totals % of Tot Fin 2005-2006 % Change
5 km 3,260,000 38.2% 5%
10 km 1,098,000 12.9% 5%
8 km/5mi 647,000 7.6% 8%
Half-Mar 590,000 6.9% 10%
1 mile 494,000 5.8% 8%
Marathon 410,000 4.8% 4%
10 mile 330,000 3.9% 2%
4 mile 224,000 2.6% 3%
15 km 220,000 2.6% 2%
20/25/30 km 130,000 1.5% 7%
12 km 105,000 1.2% – 2%
Others 1,027,000 12.0% 1%
8,535,000 100.0% 5%

Source: Running USA RRIC

The average growth for existing events would have been 6% overall if the largest events (10,000 finishers or more) with entrant limits had not been included. For races under 10,000 finishers, typical growth ranged from 5% for small events (under 500 finishers) to 7% for medium-sized events (in the 1500 to 3999 range).

2006 U.S. Road Running Events by Distance
Event Number % of
Distance of Events Total
5 km 7,500 50.4%
10 km 1,950 13.1%
8 km/5mi 850 5.7%
Half-Mar 550 3.7%
Marathon 408 2.7%
Others 3,620 24.3%
14,878

Source: Running USA RRIC

For the last decade, the RRIC has estimated that the number of off-track running events was somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000. Even though we are getting a higher percentage of race results every year it is difficult to estimate the total organized event universe which includes informal fun runs, untimed charity runs and kids runs. A new survey by SGMA hints at a very large ‘fun run’ population. Their estimate for ‘fun run’ participants in 2006 was 7.85 million (compared to 4.058 million in the 5K and 683,000 in the marathon). The marathon numbers are definitely too high because the RRIC is now able to process most of the country’s marathon results so it is likely that the other numbers are also somewhat inflated but the size of the fun run population relative to the organized run population may be greater than the RRIC has previously estimated. The ongoing Running USA / RRCA National Runner Survey should provide a more detailed view of running and racing habits in the U.S. which will contribute to next year’s report.

USATF Certified Courses in 2005-2006
Number % of 2005-2006
of Courses 2006 Total % Change
5 km 5,642 53.7% 4.7%
10 km 1,500 14.3% -1.2%
8 km/5mi 691 6.6% -1.6%
Half-Mar 610 5.8% 10.3%
1K/1M/2K/2M 426 4.1% 4.2%
Marathon 537 5.1% 3.1%
12K/15K/10M 379 3.6% 2.7%
4 mile 187 1.8% -3.1%
20/25/30 km 129 1.2% -2.3%
Ultras 83 0.8% -7.8%
Others 397 3.8% 30.6%
10,498

Certified % of Certified
in 2006 2006 Total in 2005
5 km 694 54.0% 654
10 km 189 14.7% 142
8 km 45 3.5% 45
5 mi 32 2.5% 30
Half-Mar 114 8.9% 97
1M 27 2.1% 27
Marathon 78 6.1% 90
10 mile 32 2.5% 13
4 mile 21 1.6% 18
15 km 13 1.0% 16
Others 39 3.0% 72
1,284 1,204

Source: USA Track & Field

Running Event Distance Trends

Not only did the half-marathon distance have the largest increase in number of finishers and certified courses from 2005 to 2006, it also had a substantial increase in the number of courses certified during the year – 114 new courses certified compared to 97 in 2005 – an activity increase of 17.5 %. In addition to an impressive increase of 12% for the same half-marathon results received in 2005 and 2006, there were a number of successful new events for the distance including NYC presented by Nike, Disneyland, Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose, New Las Vegas, Shamrock Sportsfest, Denver, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Philadelphia, OBX (Outer Banks, NC) and Post-News Colorado Colfax.

Other distances with strong momentum include the 1 mile (up 18% for the same events), 5 mile (up 12%), 10 mile (up 13%), 8K (up 7%) and 10K (up 8%). Half of the 10K increase was contributed by the Cooper River Bridge Run which converted its 4+ mile walk into the full 10K distance. The 10K and 10 mile also enjoyed an increase in certified course activity. The former had 33% more courses certified in 2006 compared to 2005 and the 10 mile had almost three times more courses certified in 2006 compared to the previous year.

The Race for the Cure continues to be the largest running event series with a total of 1.43 million participants and 114 U.S. events (5Ks and 1 miles) in 2006. The same Race for the Cure events tracked by the RRIC grew an average of 2% from 2005 to 2006.

Running USA would like to thank event organizers, timers, Active.com and USA Track & Field for contributing to the results collection effort. The goal is to get all event courses certified and to get all results uploaded for use in Runner Rankings as well as the annual trends reports. The search engine for USATF certified courses can be found on www.usatf.org/events/courses/search. The Runner Rankings can be found on www.runningusa.org or www.active.com/rankings.

Sources for Part IIIa

RRIC = Running USA’s Road Running Information Center. State of the Sport reports, many types of running data 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.

SGMA = Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Survey referenced is from new 2007 SGMA Sports & Fitness Participation Report (from partnership with 4 other trade groups – National Golf Foundation, SnowSports Industry Assoc, US Tennis Assoc and Outdoor Industry Association). For more information, go to SGMA.com.

USATF = USA Track & Field is the governing body for track and field, race walking and long distance running in the U.S. For information, go to
www.usatf.org.

Source/Courtesy: Running USA – RunningUSA.org

Ryan Lamppa,
Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232
Ryan@RunningUSA.org |
www.RunningUSA.org