BY THE NUMBERS: GLOBAL ROAD RUNNING FINISHERS UP 17% IN 2024
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Outcomes Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
NEW YORK (13-Jan) — An in depth survey of 2024 finisher knowledge from 600 well-established street races in 44 international locations by Race Outcomes Weekly revealed a complete year-over-year enhance in finishers of 17.1%. The survey, which encompassed 4,668,261 race finishers competing at distances from 5 km to 86 km, confirmed sturdy progress regardless of unhealthy climate in areas of america on Thanksgiving Day which depressed turnout on the most important day of the yr for American street working.
Progress was notably sturdy on the half-marathon distance. The survey included 190 half-marathons with a complete of 1,513,531 finishers, and year-over-year finishers climbed a formidable 20.9%. The largest enhance was reported by the Göteborgsvarvet in Gothenburg, Sweden, which recorded 40,638 finishers, up 34.6% (10,452 runners) from the prior yr. The rise in half-marathon finishers was broad-based: 129 races (68%) confirmed double-digit progress year-over-year, and solely 17 half-marathons confirmed a decline in finishers.
The expansion in marathon finishers was additionally sturdy. Based mostly on 135 races surveyed masking 1,144,630 finishers the year-over-year enhance was 14.6%. The 5 largest marathons on the planet –New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Chicago– had an combination enhance of 27,531 finishers (11.4%) for a complete of 269,817 runners. Among the many 11 marathons which recorded not less than 20,000 finishers, Sydney confirmed the most important enhance: 52.9% or 7,012 finishers.
On the quick finish of the racing spectrum, the survey confirmed a 13.7% enhance in 5-Ok finishers primarily based on a complete of 236,181 athletes competing in 48 races. The biggest 5-Ok within the survey, the ASICS Österreichischer Frauenlauf 5-Ok in Vienna, recorded 15,447 finishers (largely ladies) and year-over-year progress of 19.1%. Most of the 5-Ok races within the survey had been a part of bigger race festivals.
The biggest race within the survey, the Solar-Herald Metropolis to Surf 14-Ok in Sydney, recorded 77,436 finishers. The median variety of finishers within the survey was 4927, however the common was a a lot increased 7780 reflecting the affect of 16 mega-races which had not less than 30,000 finishers. Particular person races inside multi-race festivals had been counted individually.
The year-over-year finisher enhance would have been higher, however chilly and wet climate within the jap and northeastern United States on Thanksgiving Day depressed race turnout. Of the 32 Thanksgiving Day races included within the survey masking 149,743 finishers, 11 races confirmed a year-over-year decline in finishers. Consequently, complete Thanksgiving Day participation solely elevated 2.8%.
Whereas the survey included finisher knowledge from practically 4 dozen international locations, knowledge from Chinese language street races weren’t included. Chinese language occasions don’t publish full finisher lists so there isn’t any impartial option to decide the variety of finishers.
It’s necessary to do not forget that finishers are essentially the most conservative measure of race participation. Race entries, which drive race income, are a lot increased and are the metric most race organizers use to find out effectiveness of their advertising and marketing packages and the scale of their occasions. The decline from entries to finishers could be 20% or extra, relying on the occasion.
A full checklist of the occasions included within the survey is right here, https://tinyurl.com/22hyzc5y, listed by in descending order by finishers.
NOTE: Many of the finisher knowledge had been taken on race day or the next day, so some small modifications in finisher totals could have taken place later and usually are not mirrored within the numbers –Ed.
