Running USA's State of the Sport 2010 - Part IV: Largest U.S. Road Races

Running USA Wire
The Big get bigger with half-marathons leading the road race boom

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – (September 26, 2010) – For nearly 25 years, Running USA’s Road Running Information Center (RRIC) has compiled statistics for the nation’s top road races including such lists as the Top 100 U.S. Timed, Largest Festivals, Largest by State, Women-Only, World’s Largest and even Youth Runs. The table below offers a comparison of the number of events and related finishers for the Top 100 U.S. Timed Road Races in 2000 vs. 2009 and provides a snapshot of the sports impressive growth at the top end over the past decade.

In 2009, the Top 100 U.S. Timed list accounted for just over 1.3 million finishers compared to 922,500 finishers in 2000, up 43%, and as a benchmark, in 2000 the 100th race on the list had just over 3,600 finishers; in 2009 that number had increased to more than 6,000.

Table 1: Top 100 U.S. Timed Road Races (2000 vs. 2009)
2000 2009
Events Finishers Events Finishers

5K 25 244,391 7 72,357
10K 15 113,649 13 235,663
Half-Marathon 10 63,736 38 436,850
Marathon 18 204,322 13 226,854

OVERALL TOP 100 TOTAL 100 922,500 100 1,321,700

5K: While 5Ks continue to dominate the race field with 4 million plus road race finishers nationwide reported for 2009, this distance has seen a dramatic decline in the number of events earning a spot in the Top 100 U.S. timed list. In 2000 there were 25 5Ks making the list, while in 2009 only 7 of these events made the cut. The decline is a direct result of fewer Race for the Cure events being fully timed each year. For example, in 2000, there were 13 Race for the Cure events listed in the Top 100 U.S. timed list and last year there were only two.

10K: For the first time, the 10K holds the #1 and #2 spots on the Top 100 U.S. Timed list with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race (Atlanta, GA) and Dick’s Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER (Boulder, CO) earning those spots respectively. In addition, there were four 10Ks posted in the top 10 for 2009 compared with only one in 2000, and also for the first time, four U.S. 10Ks exceeded 25,000 finishers in a single year (the two above as well as Cooper River Bridge Run and Ukrop’s Monument Avenue).

Half-Marathon: An astounding 38 half-marathons are included in the Top 100 U.S. Timed list for 2009 (19 in the top 50) vs. only 10 in 2000 (4 in the top 50). The number of half finishers listed in the Top 100 totaled 33% of all finishers on the list, whereas in 2000 they only accounted for 7%. As an indicator of the 13.1 mile’s historic growth, there were a record 17 U.S. half-marathons with 10,000 finishers or more in 2009, compared with only one in 2000 and twenty of the top 30 largest U.S. half-marathons (greater than 8,000 finishers) are less than 10 years old or rebranded.

Marathon: A total of 13 marathons made the Top 100 list in 2009, slightly down from what was reported in 2000 (18), and mainly due to the accelerated growth of the half-marathon, the fastest growing distance in the U.S. since 2003. However, the marathon is still a powerhouse as the classic distance experienced a year of record participation with an estimated 467,000 finishers and the largest annual percent increase (nearly 10%) in more than 25 years. Across the country in 2009 from New York to Seattle, most marathons likely either sold-out or had a record field.

Festivals: In our rankings of the largest festivals which also includes some estimated totals, 2009 was also a record year of growth. For example, in 2009, the 50th largest festival had 19,450 finishers compared to five and ten years ago when the 50th largest festival had 15,523 and 12,000 finishers, respectively.

To see where your favorite road races ranked in 2009 or what the #1 race is in the different largest race categories – timed events, by distance, by festivals, by state, women-only races, world and youth runs, go to: www.runningusa.org/statistics/largest

For Running USA’s 2009 Running USA’s State of the Sport reports, visit: www.runningusa.org/statistics/reports

Source for Running USA’s State of the Sport Part IV: Largest U.S. Road Races

Running USA = Running USA with data powered by Athlinks (2009) and Active.com (2005-08). 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. For other questions about running trends and demographics, contact ryan@runningusa.org or tracy@runningusa.org or call (805) 696-6232.