Running USA’s Annual Marathon Report

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –
(February 26, 2012) – Over the past decade, marathons in the
U.S. and worldwide have been part of the Second Running Boom’s
unprecedented upward trend line, and 2011 was another year of
growth in U.S. marathons with an estimated record 518,000 finishers
or a 2.2% increase from 2010, a modest increase compared to recent
years (9.9% in 2009 and 8.6% in 2010). See U.S. marathon
finisher table further below.

Part of the slowing growth
for the 26.2 mile distance may be attributed to the explosive
growth of the half-marathon over the past 5 years in the U.S.
as runners either have moved down from their first or second
marathon to the half-marathon or see the half-marathon as a
more manageable, but as challenging distance for their time and
aspirations. In addition, a majority of large marathons have
entrant caps which – due to the Rule of Large Numbers – will
impact the overall percent growth, particularly if non-capped
and debut marathons don’t attract a larger number of entrants
compared to past years.

The following tables and
lists provide a summary of the demographics and interesting
statistics and trends for U.S. marathons. Per the tables below,
U.S. marathon demographics – gender, age group, median age and
median time – have remained static in recent years.

For the rest of the Running USA Annual Marathon Report, CLICK here.