After experiencing 300 percent growth from 1990 to 2013, running event finishers in 2014 was slightly down from the all-time record set in 2013. While the marathon and half marathon continue to grow, other distances declined.
The snapshot below summarizes the key race numbers and statistics from 2014 and past years.
2014 U.S. Running Snapshot:
- Females account for 10.7 million finishers nationwide and continue to represent 57 percent from event fields. Males in 2014 represented over 8 million finishers in U.S. races. Overall, there were 18,750,000 finishers in U.S. running events, down 1 percent from the record over 19 million recorded in 2013.
- Total number of U.S. running events reached 28,000, also down 1 percent from an all-time high in 2013: Table 3.
- The 25 to 44-year-old age group is the sweet spot for running, accounting for half of finishers.
- The half-marathon continues to grow with an annual increase of 4 percent finishers (2.046 million, another new high) with an astounding 61 percent female participation.
- In 2014, the 5K maintained the #1 position of all race distances, with 8.3 million finishers (on par with the record number in 2013) claiming 44 percent of all finishers in the U.S., while the half-marathon again held the #2 position with approximately 11 percent of the finishers, followed by the 10K (7 percent).
- The 10K and other distances declined from 2013 to 2014.
The following lists, charts and tables provide an overall summary of U.S. races, including demographics.
