The percentage of people finishing marathons who are women continued to inch up in 2013, when participation rebounded strongly from 2012 and set another record, according to estimates released by Running USA.
Despite several cancellations due to weather and the Boston Marathon terror attack, a record 1,100 marathons were held in the United States last year, according to Running USA's annual Marathon Report. A record 541,000 runners finished the 26.2 mile race and women made up a record 43 percent, or 232,600, of them, up from 42 percent in 2012. The data show female participation rates caught up with male participation rates of 31 percent in the 34-44 year-old demographic and then overtook them in the three age groups beyond. Participation in the Master division, which takes runners ages 40 and older, also set a record, climbing a point to 47 percent of participants, or 254,300.
The numbers demonstrate that a 6 percent decline in finishers in 2012 was an aberration attributable to the cancellation of the ING New York City Marathon. That race was poised to draw 47,000-plus finishers, but was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy.
USA Running estimated that the April 15, 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon's finish line and weather cancelations of major marathons in Dallas and Memphis in December reduced the number of finishers by 13,000 in 2013. The New York City Marathon, meanwhile, set a record with 50,266 finishers.
The only possible negative metric was a -0.7 percent dip the number of finishers from the same 372 U.S. marathons for 2012 and 2013, not including the Boston Marathon. By comparison there was a 1.6 percent increase in finishers from the same 388 U.S. marathons for 2011 and 2012. Since 1990, there has been more than a 140 percent increase in U.S. marathon finishers (224,000 vs. 541,000) and over the past decade, a 40 percent increase (386,000 vs. 541,000).
