The participation in marathon races in Europe stay on an upward trend. The races contained in the European marathons database, which is estimated to cover more than 90% of all marathon participants in Europe, recorded an increase by 4.6 per cent or approximately 28,000 persons (Chart 1).

However, the increase was somewhat less pronounced than in the three years before. This is remarkable insofar, as the Berlin Marathon experiences a strong increase, following the change in the registration policy which had caused a sharp decrease in 2014.

Taking a longer perspective, the Marathon-in-Europe database registers an increase in particpation by more almost 130,000  since 2010. 

Chart 1

Remark: For the presentation of marathon participation in Europe it is crucial, which races are included in the data base. They are selected by size and by their importance for the countries' marathon scene. A list a races includes can be found below.

A problem is, to get aware of new races, which sometimes enter the database with some delay. 

List of Events 2015 version of Marathons in Europa List Events.pdf [ 55,3 KB ]

So far, two big new races have been launched in 2015: Marathon de Bordeaux Metropol (FRA; 5660 finishers) and Bristol-Bath Marathon (GBR; 4133 finishers). Worth to mention is also Hull Marathon (GBR), a re-launch with about 800 participants.

Besides, there have been some new races in Russsia and Turkey. Each of them, however, had less than 250 participants, but are of some importance for the marathon scene in these countries..  

Looking at participation by country makes evident that most marathon participants are still counted in Germany (Table 1).

On the second place France can be found, which showed the same increase as Germany. The advantage against the U.K. on the third place decreased somewhat. In Spain, which is in the forth place, participation is still growing at high rates.

Italy and Poland, in the fifth resp. sixth place, experienced a small decline. The biggest increase in participation was once again registered in Russia (+ 40 percent)

Table 1

Marathon participants by country 

Note: Only races which are part of the Marathon-in-Europe database.

Table 1 as PDF-Download

Participation by country 2015 compared to 2014 Europe 15 Countries.pdf [ 29,7 KB ]

Big differences still exist concerning the number of female runners. In the UK they form about a third of the marathon participants, which is the highest shar in Europa, but still less than in the U.S. There is a clear divide between northern countries, with higher shares of female runners, and South-East Erope where the women's share often is below 10 percent.

Details can be found in the list below.

Participation by gender 2010 to 2015 Europe 15 Gender.pdf [ 20,4 KB ]

Dr. Roland Döhrn in LAUFMARKT

LAUFMARKT