US event registration firm RunSignup has unveiled its annual RaceTrends Report providing a snapshot of the state of the endurance sport industry in the USA.
Citing years of slow recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, RunSignup notes that registration levels in 2023 suggest a return to the pre-pandemic baseline for participation and reason to refocus on industry growth.
RunSignup’s RaceTrends report shows that race participation grew an average of 10% over the last year, and trailed 2019 participation by just 1%. However, the event registration specialist noted that large races on its books struggled to attract as many registrants, with events of more than 5,000 participants averaging 16% fewer participants than in 2019 – while events with fewer than 500 participants grew 14% compared to 2019.
Additional highlights cited by RunSignup include:
- 5% of 2022 races did not take place in 2023, similar to pre-pandemic rates of race churn.
- Just 16% of participants from 2022 repeated the same event in 2023, with half marathons seeing only 13% of participants repeat.
- Prices continue to increase across all race distances, with the average 10K price set 11% higher than in 2019 and 4% higher than in 2022.
- Females still make up the majority of participants but the gap is narrowing, with 53% of participants identifying as female.
- There is cautious optimism about the growth prospect amongst the young runners cohort, with the 15% of registrants aged between 18-29 – the highest participation by young adults since 2019.
- 25% of all registrations came on race week, consistent with race week registrations throughout the last 5 years
The report was built by mining RunSignup’s registration and finisher data covering a five-year period. It is estimated that the data on RunSignup accounts for approximately 40% of the US endurance market. The data in RunSignup’s 2023 RaceTrends report includes more than 75,000 race events and 9.4 million registrations.
RunSignup CEO and Founder Bob Bickel said “Our 2023 numbers still show nuanced challenges in the endurance industry, but overall, we’re excited about the future. On our end, we have a few areas of focus to encourage growth.
“One, we are providing free technology for email, websites, and memberships to make it easier for races to build community and stay connected. Two, we continue to update the RaceDay Suite to streamline race morning with on-site registration and check-in and extend the experience through photos and results. We’re looking forward to 2024.”
