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 information from 600 well-established highway races in 44 international locations by Race Outcomes Weekly revealed a complete year-over-year improve 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 the USA on Thanksgiving Day which depressed turnout on the largest day of the 12 months for American highway 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 powerful 20.9%. The largest improve was reported by the Göteborgsvarvet in Gothenburg, Sweden, which recorded 40,638 finishers, up 34.6% (10,452 runners) from the prior 12 months. 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. Primarily based on 135 races surveyed masking 1,144,630 finishers the year-over-year improve was 14.6%. The 5 largest marathons on this planet –New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Chicago– had an mixture improve of 27,531 finishers (11.4%) for a complete of 269,817 runners. Among the many 11 marathons which recorded a minimum of 20,000 finishers, Sydney confirmed the biggest improve: 52.9% or 7,012 finishers.
On the quick finish of the racing spectrum, the survey confirmed a 13.7% improve in 5-Ok finishers primarily based on a complete of 236,181 athletes competing in 48 races. The most important 5-Ok within the survey, the ASICS Österreichischer Frauenlauf 5-Ok in Vienna, recorded 15,447 finishers (largely girls) and year-over-year progress of 19.1%. Most of the 5-Ok races within the survey have been a part of bigger race festivals.
The most important 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 greater 7780 reflecting the affect of 16 mega-races which had a minimum of 30,000 finishers. Particular person races inside multi-race festivals have been counted individually.
The year-over-year finisher improve would have been higher, however chilly and wet climate within the japanese 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, whole Thanksgiving Day participation solely elevated 2.8%.
Whereas the survey integrated finisher information from almost 4 dozen international locations, information from Chinese language highway races weren’t included. Chinese language occasions don’t publish full finisher lists so there isn’t any unbiased approach to decide the variety of finishers.
It’s necessary to keep in mind that finishers are probably the most conservative measure of race participation. Race entries, which drive race income, are a lot greater and are the metric most race organizers use to find out effectiveness of their advertising applications and the scale of their occasions. The decline from entries to finishers may 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 information have been taken on race day or the next day, so some small adjustments in finisher totals could have taken place later and should not mirrored within the numbers –Ed.
