Organizing a race and turning it into a business is a marathon, not a sprint. To get ahead, you’ll need to understand the roadblocks that lie ahead.
When it comes to directing a race, that means understanding the broader industry trends influencing your business. To help, we compiled some of the most important statistics from 2016’s Running USA’s Industry State of the Sport Report.
These stats will give you insight into what motivates runners, the most popular races today, and who is most likely to sign up for your next race. Take a look so you can hit the ground running for the second half of 2016.
1. The industry’s pace is slowing
Road race participation peaked a couple years ago, and last year was the second straight year of declining numbers. You may or may not have noticed a similar trend in your registrations already, but this indicates it might pay off to plan a slightly more modest budget for upcoming races.
The majority of the decrease was the slowing popularity of obstacle course races in 2015, which saw one million fewer participants than the year before. But don’t despair: despite a nine percent drop in overall participation, there were still 17.1 million finishers reported across all road race distances last year. That means there’s still a huge target market out there for you to reach.
2. There are more race choices than ever before
IBISWorld, a market research firm, values the road running industry at $1.4 billion. It’s no wonder that more and more race directors are trying to grab a piece of that pie.
Last year, there were a total of 30,300 races, up 8% from 28,000 in 2014. That means it’s more important than ever to stand out from competitors with smart marketing, a smooth race registration process, and a stellar race experience.
3. The most popular races go the distance
The decline in obstacle race participation might have muddied the stats for the overall industry, but distance races are still at the top of their game.
In 2015, 5K races remained the most popular of all race distances and types, with 7.6 million finishers. That’s 45% of all finishers in the U.S. Coming in second were half-marathons with approximately 12% of the finishers, and 10K races rounded out the top three at 7% of finishers.
So how can you reach these more active participants? No matter what type of race you organize, find ways to engage and encourage runners who are striving to conquer a specific distance goal — you may motivate them to sign up.
4. 25-44 year olds are the most active runners
People in this age demographic comprise half of all race finishers. In other words, this is the target audience you need to focus on in your marketing. To engage this audience in your advertising, you can target their demographic in your ads on social media, or feature runners from their age group in your pictures.
What does this all mean for you? Despite the slowdown in race participation, interest is still high, and runners have more choices than ever before. By finding ways to engage your target customers and differentiate your race with great customer service, you can pull ahead of the competition.
Interested in learning more surprising stats about the running industry? Check out these five statistics about runners’ purchasing behavior that race directors can use to drive registrations.
