Marathon Boom

Article about the marathon boom from the Houston Chronicle…

Running notebook: Participation, interest keep growing

By ROBERTA MACINNIS

Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Aug. 11, 2010, 6:52PM

 

If the start of your last 5K seemed more crowded than usual, that might be because it really was. More people than ever are joining the pack of those whose idea of a good time is running in a race. That's the news in the third and final installment of the 2010 State of the Sport report, prepared by Running USA.

The nonprofit group offers this snapshot of road-running trends:

— The number of running events in the U.S. exceeded 17,000 in 2009, the most ever.

— Those 17,000 events had more than 10 million finishers, also an all-time high and a 37 percent increase since 2000.

— 5.4 million of those finishers were women, who now make up 53 percent of race fields, compared to 23 percent in 1989.

The number of half-marathon finishers jumped 24 percent from the previous year, to 1.1 million. But the marathon, road running's marquee event, also grew in popularity. The 10 percent increase in marathon finishers is the largest in the past 25 years.

The 5K and 10K, the top two most popular distances, are also growing.

The average age of finishers — 35.3 years - is slightly younger. The organization suggests that trend will continue as baby boomers' children enter the sport as young adults in the coming years.

Read on here.