Last year was a year of growth for running. Specifically marathons. With overall marathon attendance up and the New York and Chicago Marathons claiming to have the largest number of finishers ever in each race’s history, the interest in running has taken strides to amazing growth. We’ll have some fun and come up with reasons why.
Amazing Growth for the Long Run
The New York Marathon had over 55k runners finish in 2024. The Chicago marathon had over 52K. The Berlin Marathon had over 54K. These are all staggering numbers. This is not participants, but the number of finishers, which means there could be thousands more that participated across all races but didn’t finish. I excited to see this level of amazing growth.
Here’s a few ideas why this could be:
- Significant Technology Gains: across shoes, clothing, and wearables, technology has given more access to wearables that can track your distance and footwear that can not only shave off seconds from your pace but make you more comfortable doing it. The buzz around carbon plated shoes also could have influenced new runners to take up the sport just for the coolness factor.
- Sense of Community: The running community has always been strong, especially if you are training for a marathon. You will make friends with complete strangers when joining a training group. I talk about some motivating benefits here. With social media outreach and marathon entry pools targeting larger and non-competitive runners, the community is growing.
- Health Conscious: There was an increase in younger runners for both men and women. A health conscious group could be more motivated. A younger generation could be drawn to the mental and physical health benefits of long distance running.
How popular will running get?
I’m sure some of the running companies can project the growth of running, but no one really knows for sure. With the growth of technology, social media, and a health forward upcoming generation, the boundaries could be endless. I’ve run a few marathons, and I’m always amazed at the number of participants in attendance. It’s truly amazing. There’s no limit to how far marathons will grow. Will we ever see 100k runners finish a race? It seems unlikely at this point, but as interest and demand grow, the limits are endless. If this isn’t motivating, I don’t know what is?