BY NUMBERS. GLOBAL ROADS TO INCREASE 17% BY 2024
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used by permission.
NEW YORK (13-Jan) – A detailed study of 600 races in 44 countries by Race Results Weekly found a 17.1% year-over-year increase in finishers, a survey that included 4,668,261 race finishers , who raced from 5km to 86km, showed strong growth despite bad weather Thanksgiving Day across the United States, which reduced participation on the biggest day of the year for American road racing.
Growth was particularly strong in the half-marathon space, which included 190 half-marathons with a total of 1,513,531 finishers, with completions up an impressive 20.9% year-over-year. The biggest increase was at Göteborgsvarvet in Gothenburg, Sweden, with 40,638 finishers, up 34.6% (10,452 runners) from last year. 129 races (68%) showed double-digit year-over-year growth, and only 17 half marathons saw a drop in finishers.
The increase in marathon finishers was also strong. Based on the 135 races surveyed, which included 1,144,630 finishers, the year-on-year increase was 14.6%.The world’s five largest marathons – New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Chicago – saw a combined increase of 27,531 runners (11.4%). ) for a total of 269,817 runners among the 11 marathoners who registered at least Of the 20,000 finishers, Sydney showed the biggest increase of 52.9% or 7,012 finishers.
At the short end of the race spectrum, the survey showed a 13.7% increase in 5-K finishers, based on a total of 236,181 athletes who competed in 48 races.The largest 5-K in the survey, the ASICS Österreichischer Frauenlauf 5-K in Vienna, was recorded is 15,447 graduates (mostly women) and an increase of 19.1% in the survey Many of the 5-K races were part of larger race festivals.
The biggest race in the survey, the Sun-Herald City to Surf 14-K in Sydney, had 77,436 finishers. The average number of finishers in the survey was 4,927, but the average was much higher at 7,780, reflecting the impact of the 16 mega races that had at least 30,000 finishers. : Counted separately for multi-course festivals the races.
The year-over-year increase in finishers would have been greater, but cold and rainy weather in the eastern and northeastern United States depressed race participation on Thanksgiving Day. Of the 32 Thanksgiving races included in the survey, which included 149,743 finishers, 11 races showed finishers. As a result, overall Thanksgiving attendance was up just 2.8%.
While the survey included finishers from nearly four dozen countries, data from Chinese road races was not included. Chinese events do not publish complete finisher lists, so there is no independent way to determine finishers.
It’s important to remember that finishers are the most conservative measure of race participation. Race entries that generate race revenue are much higher and are the benchmark most race organizers use to determine the effectiveness of their marketing programs and event size 20% or more depending on the event.
The full list of events included in the survey here: https://tinyurl.com/22hyzc5ylisted in descending order by graduates.
NOTE: Most of the finisher data was taken on the day of the race or the day after, so some small changes in finisher totals may have occurred later and not reflected in the numbers – Ed.
