RunSignup Releases 2019 100 Largest US Road Races Report

February 7, 2020

(Moorestown, NJ)– RunSignup, the leading technology provider for races in the US, has assembled a list of the 100 Largest Road Races in the US. This is the second year that the report has been released in an effort to build a better understanding of the top tier of the road racing industry. The report ranks races based on the total finishers for each race weekend and evaluates the growth or decline in finishers from 2018 to 2019.

Participation in individual races is often impacted by factors outside the race’s control such as weather or permitting changes – for example, the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K increased registrations but still saw a decline in finishers after poor weather the morning of the event. However, the aggregate data of all 100 races creates a snapshot of the state of the market for large events. The key stat is that overall the group saw an overall 1.4% growth (excluding 25,000 participants from a one-year-only race), similar to the 1.0% growth that RunSignup’s 2019 RaceTrends Report found in the broader endurance industry. The total 1.87 million participants in the largest 100 races represents 6-10% of the total race participants in the country based on various estimates of the market size.

Highlights of the report include:

• The top 5 included AJC Peachtree Road Race, TCS New York City Marathon, Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, and Bolder Boulder. The 12 largest races all topped 30,000 participants.
• Twenty races grew at least 10% from 2018, with the most growth seen by Crazy Legs (81%), Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Atlanta (52%), The Great Pumpkin Run (34%), Rock n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon (30%) and Cowtown Marathon (26%).
• Industry consolidation has created organizations that own multiple races in the largest 100, with the largest single organization (WTC – Rock n’ Roll) owning 12 races on the list. However, no organization owns even 1% of total participant market share of races in the US.
• The 100 races are spread amongst many registration providers, with Active hosting 19 races, RunSignup hosting 14 races, and Race Roster, Haku, and EnMotive all topping the 10-race mark.
• Five races that were not on the 2018 list made the cut in 2019. These included NYRR New York Mini 10K (100), Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Atlanta (97), Rocky Run (74), Crazy Legs (60), and Tunnel to Viaduct 8K (20). Of those, the Tunnel to Viaduct 8K was a one-year-only event, and Crazy Legs rebounded after weather caused a turnout significantly lower than normal in 2018.
• Several races were able to grow by adding new distances to their weekend, thus expanding their pool of potential participants.

RunSignup continues to study the endurance market because the diversity of providers makes it challenging to get a clear picture of the state of the industry. Aggregating this data on the Largest 100 races is a manual process based on publicly available finisher data for timed events; there may be missed data. To make any corrections to the list, contact Eric Cone at eric@runsignup.com. For more information, visit: https://runsignup.blog/2020/02/05/2019-largest-100-races/

About RunSignup

RunSignup is the leading all-in-one platform for endurance and fundraising events. More than 20,000 races, supporting over 8,000 nonprofits, use RunSignup’s free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. Built on a powerful CRM, RunSignup delivers the art of technology to power the entire race cycle, with promotional tools, registration, a full fundraising platform, and a suite of RaceDay products – including the runner-tracking app RaceJoy and race timing software, RaceDay Scoring. For more information, visit www.runsignup.com