Sport of Running Continues to Grow According to Latest Report from Running USA

Courtesy Running USA Wire #62-08-10 -

Road Running continued its “boom” in 2009 with another record year of participation. Despite the lingering recession, the sport grew to an estimated 10,290,000 finishers in U.S. road races, a record high. By contrast, according to Running USA, there were just over 3.9 million finishers in U.S. road races twenty years earlier (1989). The 2009 record increase also marks the first time that finisher totals exceeded 10 million and represents the largest percentage increase (9%) in U.S. finisher totals annually since 1992. The 5K, 10K and Half-Marathon accounted for 62.3% of all finishers and 68.7% of all events nationwide in 2009. See Tables 1 and 2 below.

2009 Road Running Snapshot:
* In the past decade (2000 – 2009) U.S. road running finishers have grown from 7,502,000 to 10,290,000, a 37% increase. In 2009 finisher totals exceeded the 10 million mark for the first time.
* 2009 is the 2nd highest percent increase in overall finisher totals (9%). Growth such as this hasn’t been seen since the early stages of the Second Running Boom: 1992 (9.2%) and 1993 (7.9%), and based on preliminary totals, 2010 should also show above average growth.
* Females now account for over 5.4 million finishers nationwide and represent 53% of race fields compared to only 23% in 1989.
* Total U.S. running events exceeded 17,000, an all-time record high.
* A record annual increase in total finishers for the Half-Marathon (24%) and an astounding 10% increase in the Marathon, which is the largest percent increase for the distance in the last 25 years.
* The 5K and 10K – the #1 and #2 most popular racing distances – also experienced higher annual increases than seen in previous years and exhibited growth patterns similar to trends seen in the early 1990s. In addition, the 5K surpassed the 4 million finisher total for the first time in 2009.
* A trend toward a slightly younger race field – based on average age – suggests that road racing will continue to grow as more Baby Boomers’ children, the so-called Echo Babies, enter the sport as young adults in the coming years.

For the rest of Running USA’s State of the Sport 2010 – Part III, visit www.runningusa.org.