Running USA’s State of the Sport 2011 – Part IV: Largest Road Races – Record number of finishers in Top 100 U.S. Timed; races with more than 50,000 timed finishers also hits new high

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – (July 28, 2011) – Each year Running USA releases statistics for the nation's top road races including such popular lists as the Top 100 U.S. Timed, Largest Festivals, Largest by Distance, Largest by State, Women-Only, World's Largest and Youth Runs.

To see where your favorite road races ranked in 2010 or what the #1 race is in the different largest race categories, go to: www.runningusa.org/statistics/largest

 

Rank	Finishers	Race Name	Location	Date
1	50,918	Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race 10K	Atlanta, GA	07/04/2010
2	50,721	Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K	Spokane, WA	05/02/2010
3	50,477	Dick's Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER 10K	Boulder, CO	05/31/2010
4	44,977	ING New York City Marathon	New York, NY	11/07/2010
5	36,088	Bank of America Chicago Marathon	Chicago, IL	10/10/2010
6	33,057	Cooper River Bridge Run 10K	Charleston, SC	03/27/2010
7	31,046	OneAmerica 500 Festival Half-Marathon	Indianapolis, IN	05/08/2010
8	30,853	Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K	Richmond, VA	03/27/2010
9	28,905	EIF Revlon Run for Women: LA 5K	Los Angeles, CA	05/08/2010
10	26,266	Blue Cross Broad Street Run 10 Mile	Philadelphia, PA	05/02/2010
11	25,574	Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K	Chicago, IL	03/21/2010
12	24,543	ING Bay to Breakers 12K	San Francisco, CA	05/16/2010
13	23,799	Country Music Half-Marathon	Nashville, TN	04/24/2010
14	22,672	Boston Marathon	Boston, MA	04/19/2010
15	22,580	25th Honda LA Marathon	Los Angeles, CA	03/21/2010
16	21,944	Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, DC	10/31/2010
17	21,744	Army Ten-Miler	Washington, DC	10/24/2010
18	21,567	P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half-Marathon	Phoenix, AZ	01/17/2010
19	20,641	Pat's Run 4.2 Mile	Tempe, AZ	04/17/2010
20	20,436	Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half-Marathon	San Antonio, TX	11/14/2010
21	20,180	Honolulu Marathon	Honolulu, HI	12/12/2010
22	19,217	Zappos.com Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Half-Marathon	Las Vegas, NV	12/05/2010
23	18,932	Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half-Marathon	Chicago, IL	08/01/2010
24	17,609	Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Half-Marathon	Seattle, WA	06/26/2010
25	17,510	Kaiser Permanente Great Aloha Run 8.15 Mile	Honolulu, HI	02/15/2010
26	17,132	Walt Disney World Half-Marathon	Orlando, FL	01/09/2010
27	16,923	Walt Disney World Marathon	Orlando, FL	01/10/2010
28	15,762	Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile	Washington, DC	04/11/2010
29	15,556	Nike Women's Half-Marathon	San Francisco, CA	10/17/2010
30	15,456	ING Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon	Philadelphia, PA	09/19/2010
31	15,060	Bellin Run 10K	Green Bay, WI	06/12/2010
32	14,804	Dodge Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half-Marathon	Virginia Beach, VA	09/05/2010
33	13,575	Chicago Half-Marathon	Chicago, IL	09/12/2010
34	13,574	Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Half-Marathon (inaugural)	San Diego, CA	06/06/2010
35	13,403	Manchester Road Race 4.75 Mile	Manchester, CT	11/25/2010
36	13,342	Gate River Run 15K	Jacksonville, FL	03/13/2010
37	13,308	Beach to Bay Relay Marathon	Corpus Christi, TX	05/15/2010
38	12,893	Crazylegs Classic 8K	Madison, WI	04/24/2010
39	12,702	Hot Chocolate 5K	Chicago, IL	11/06/2010
40	12,372	Disneyland Half-Marathon	Anaheim, CA	09/05/2010
41	12,338	Hot Chocolate 15K	Chicago, IL	11/06/2010
42	12,203	Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back 188 Mile	Logan, UT	06/18/2010
43	11,896	San Francisco Half-Marathon	San Francisco, CA	07/25/2010
44	11,804	Surf City USA Half-Marathon	Huntington Beach, CA	02/07/2010
45	11,604	NYC Half-Marathon	New York, NY	03/21/2010
46	11,540	Boilermaker 15K	Utica, NY	07/11/2010
47	11,438	Quad-City Times Bix 7 Mile	Davenport, IA	07/24/2010
48	11,359	Disney Princess Half-Marathon	Orlando, FL	03/07/2010
49	11,302	ING Miami Half-Marathon	Miami, FL	01/31/2010
50	11,253	OfficeMax Hood to Coast Relay 197 Mile	Portland, OR	08/27/2010

 

Top 100 U.S. Timed – In 2010, the Top 100 U.S. Timed list accounted for just over 1.4 million finishers (a record) compared to 922,500 finishers in 2000, up more than 51%, and as a benchmark, in 2000 the 100th race on the list had just over 3,600 finishers, while by 2010 that number had grown to more than 7,000.

Last year, a record 42 half-marathons made up the Top 100 U.S. Timed list, and four of those half-marathons were inaugural events. By comparison, in 2000, there were only 11 half-marathons on the Top 100 U.S. Timed list and none were inaugural. As mentioned in previous State of the Sport Reports, since 2003, the half-marathon has been the fastest growing distance in the U.S. with an incredible 24% annual growth the past two years.

Largest by Distance – If you think a marathon or half-marathon distance had the largest race field in the nation, think again. In fact, the top 3 largest road races for 2010 were two 10Ks and a 12K all with more than 50,000 timed finishers each: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race 10K (50,918), Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K (50,721) and Dick's Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER 10K (50,477); it was the first time that more than two U.S. road races exceeded 50,000 timed finishers in the same year.

During the Second Running Boom, the 15K and 10 mile have also shown impressive, but relatively quiet growth compared to the more talked about half-marathon and marathon. In 2010, for example, for the first time, three U.S. 15Ks had more than 10,000 finishers: Gate River Run (13,342), Hot Chocolate (12,338) and Boilermaker (11,540) and there were none in 2005, while in the 10 mile, three races had more than 15,000 finishers: Blue Cross Broad Street Run (26,266), Army Ten-Miler (21,744) and Credit Union Cherry Blossom (15,762) with none in 2005.

To view the largest races in the U.S. by distance, click here: https://www.runningusa.org/statistics/largest

Largest by State – The ING New York City Marathon weekend including the Marathon, Continental Airlines International Friendship Run 4K, NYRR 5 Mile and Run With Champions youth event rank New York #1 with the largest festival event on the map with nearly 62,000 estimated finishers (the vast majority timed with a world record 44,977 finishers in the Marathon), but other states have stand-alone large events topping the list too such as the "Show Me" state of Missouri (Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Festival 5K – 55,419 estimated finishers), Georgia (Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race 10K – 50,918), Washington (Lilac Bloomsday 12K – 50,721) and Colorado (Dick's Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER 10K – 50,477).

Largest Festivals – Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure events include 8 races in the top 15 festivals for 2010. Overall U.S. Festivals continue to experience tremendous growth. For example, in 2010, the 50th largest festival had 22,089 finishers compared to 2009 when the 50th largest festival had 19,450, and over ten years ago only 12,000 finishers.

Women-Only – Of the largest women-only races (95% or greater female finishers), seven of the top 15 were half-marathons in 2010. The top 3 events spanned from the west coast to the east coast, with the Nike Women's Half-Marathon in California (15,556), Disney Princess Half-Marathon in Florida (11,359), and the St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration in Idaho (11,041 estimated finishers). In 2010, there were more than 20 women-only events with 2000-plus finishers.

World's Largest – With 67,999 timed finishers, the Sun-Herald City2Surf 14K in Sydney, Australia was the world's largest road race in 2010. For the first time, six marathons – New York City, London, Chicago, Berlin, Paris and Tokyo – had more than 30,000 finishers in the same year, while the U.S. again had 7 of the 15 largest marathons in the world. There were also nine half-marathons worldwide with more than 19,000 finishers (a record) and a record-tying seven with more than 20,000 finishers (also 2009). Last year, the United States had 14 of the top 20 half-marathons in the world.

 

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Rank	Finishers	Code	Race Name	Location	Date
1	67,999		Sun-Herald City2Surf 14K	Sydney, AUS	08/08/2010
2	65,000	E	Stracittadina Fun Run 4K	Rome, ITA	03/21/2010
3	64,000	E	JPMorgan Corporate Challenge: Frankfurt 3.5 Mile	Frankfurt, GER	06/09/2010
4	55,123		Cursa El Corte Ingles 11K	Barcelona, ESP	05/30/2010
5	50,918		Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race 10K	Atlanta, GA	07/04/2010
6	50,721		Lilac Bloomsday Run 12K	Spokane, WA	05/02/2010
7	50,477		Dick's Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER 10K	Boulder, CO	05/31/2010
8	44,977		ING New York City Marathon	New York, NY	11/07/2010
9	40,000	E	Stramilano 10K	Milan, ITA	03/21/2010
10	39,861		Vancouver Sun Run 10K	Vancouver, CAN	05/09/2010
11	39,507		Bupa Great North Run Half-Marathon	Tyneside, GBR	09/19/2010
12	38,459		G	G, SWE	05/22/2010
13	36,632		Virgin London Marathon	London, GBR	04/25/2010
14	36,088		Bank of America Chicago Marathon	Chicago, IL	10/10/2010
15	35,143	E	Race for the Cure: DC 5K (7,643 timed)	Washington, DC	06/05/2010
16	34,002		real,- Berlin Marathon	Berlin, GER	09/26/2010
17	33,794	E	Flora Women's Mini-Marathon 10K (7,794 timed)	Dublin, IRL	06/07/2010
18	33,057		Cooper River Bridge Run 10K	Charleston, SC	03/27/2010
19	32,000	E	Ports of Auckland Round the Bays 8.4K	Auckland, NZL	03/14/2010
20	31,046		OneAmerica 500 Festival Half-Marathon	Indianapolis, IN	05/08/2010
21	30,976		Paris Marathon	Paris, FRA	04/11/2010
22	30,853		Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K	Richmond, VA	03/27/2010
23	30,170		Tokyo Int'l Marathon	Tokyo, JPN	02/28/2010
24	29,671		Dam tot Dam 10 Mile	Zaandam, NED	09/19/2010
25	28,905		EIF Revlon Run for Women: LA 5K	Los Angeles, CA	05/08/2010
26	27,705		San Silvestre Vallecana 10K	Madrid, ESP	12/31/2010
27	26,987		Bupa Great Manchester 10K	Manchester, GBR	05/16/2010
28	26,266		Blue Cross Broad Street Run 10 Mile	Philadelphia, PA	05/02/2010
29	25,574		Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K	Chicago, IL	03/21/2010
30	24,543		ING Bay to Breakers 12K	San Francisco, CA	05/16/2010
31	24,420		Zevenheuvelenloop 15K	Nijmegen, NED	11/21/2010
32	24,000	E	Bogota Int'l 10K	Bogota, COL	08/01/2010
33	23,799		Country Music Half-Marathon	Nashville, TN	04/24/2010
34	22,672		Boston Marathon	Boston, MA	04/19/2010
35	22,580		Honda LA Marathon	Los Angeles, CA	03/21/2010
36	22,100	E	EIF Revlon Run for Women: NYC 5K	New York, NY	05/01/2010
37	22,032		Paris Half-Marathon	Paris, FRA	03/07/2010
38	21,944		Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, DC	10/31/2010
39	21,744		Army Ten-Miler	Washington, DC	10/24/2010
40	21,567		P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half-Marathon	Phoenix, AZ	01/17/2010
41	20,641		Pat's Run 4.2 Mile	Tempe, AZ	04/17/2010
42	20,436		Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half-Marathon	San Antonio, TX	11/14/2010
43	20,413		Honolulu Marathon	Honolulu, HI	12/12/2010
44	19,948	E	Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot 5K (2,448 timed)	Dallas, TX	11/25/2010

 

 

Largest Youth – With the development of the final mile programs and the majority of road race events now incorporating a youth component, youth runs across the nation have also experienced explosive growth the last 5-10 years. Running USA estimates that there were more than 40 youth events in 2010 that surpassed 2,000 youth finishers at a single event.

SOURCES:

Running USA = Running USA advances the growth and success of the running industry in America. 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. Running USA statistics is powered by Athlinks.

For other questions about running trends and demographics, contact ryan@runningusa.org or tracy@runningusa.org