The Outdoor Foundation and Montrail have teamed up to create a Special Report on Trail Running. The new research report presents detailed information on participation by gender, age, ethnicity, income, education and geographic region.
It also provides data on “crossover” sports and common barriers to entry which is critical information needed by outdoor businesses, communities and non-profits working to connect Americans with the outdoors.
The report found that 4.8 million Americans ages 6 and older participated in trail running in 2009. Among those participants, there were 153.7 million outings, averaging 31.8 days per participant. In addition, more than 82% of trail running enthusiasts also participate in road running and 13.1% of trail runners tried the sport for the first time in 2009.
The average trail runner is male (63.5%), between 25 and 44 years old (48.9%) and has a household income over $50,000 (86%). This is a fairly young demographic with 80% of trail runners being under 45 years of age and fairly wealthy with 31.5% in an income bracket above $100,000. Over half (51.9%) of trail runners are college graduates.
A total of 98.4% of trail runners participate in another outdoor activity with the most popular choices being running or jogging on pavement, day hiking, bicycling (50.8%) and camping (43.5%). The report discovered that friends and parents are most influential in introducing trail runners to the sport.
“In preparing our team for the upcoming sales season, this report enabled us to show that trail running fits our customer’s outdoor lifestyle,” said Donna Williams, Montrail Sales Manager. “We are seeing a new breed of runner on the trail as well. One that is youthful and driven towards achieving success in their outdoor pursuits. That is exciting for our industry.”
