Posted: April 15, 2005

Athletics: RRIC Annual Marathon Report

RRIC Annual Marathon Report Marathon Growth Continues in the U.S. and Worldwide SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - (April 14, 2005) - As spring marks the marathon season across the globe, it is time again for the Road Running Information Center's annual marathon report and it can be summarized in the phrase, "and the beat goes on" as the tables below illustrate. Gender and Age Group Breakdown   1980 1995 1998 2000 2002 2004 Women     10.5% 26% 34% 38% 40% 40% Men 89.5% 74% 66% 62% 60% 60% Masters (40 yrs+)   26% 41% 40% 44% 43% 43% Open (20 to 39 yrs) 69% 57% 59% 54% 55% 55% Juniors (under 20)   5% 2% 1% 2% 2% 2%   Median Age          1980 1995 1998 2000 2002 2004 Males    34 38 38 38 39 39 Females  31.3 35 34 35 34 34 Median Age Overall   37 37 37 37 Median Times for U.S. Marathon Finishers   1980 1995 2002 2004 Males     3:32:17 3:54:00 4:20:01    4:23:35  (chip 4:18) Females  4:03:39 4:15:00 4:56:46    4:55:21  (chip 4:50) The male marathoners are getting a little older and the females a little younger, but the overall median still remains at 37 which implies a certain stability for the sport. Median times for all marathon finishers have not changed significantly in the last 3 years. Marathons with the Most... Of course, a look at individual marathons provides a much more intricate and interesting picture of the marathon population. In 2000, the two marathons with over 1,000 finishers which had the fastest median times were Cleveland (formerly Revco and CVS, currently Rite Aid) and Philadelphia (currently Citizens Bank) and they remain the fastest of the larger marathons RRIC had complete results for in 2004. Marathons with Fast Median Times 1995 2000 2004 Philadelphia 3:41:47 4:01:19 4:04:38 Cleveland 3:55:51 3:57:04 4:05:47 (chip 4:04) The City of Los Angeles Marathon has overtaken Honolulu as the marathon with the slowest median time which might also mean it is the 'Most Relaxing'. Marathons with Slow Median Times 1995 2000 2004 Los Angeles 4:50:30 5:14:33 5:53:01 Honolulu 5:50:19 5:49:23 5:42:41 (chip 5:35) Overall, 26% of the finishers in 2004 marathons ran under 4 hours. LaSalle Bank Chicago had the most fast finishers and was one of very few events which had more under 4 hour finishers in recent years than 20 to 25 years ago. Number of <4 hour finishers 1980 1995 1998 2004 Boston 6591 (72%) 6467 (68%) 7390 (72%) 5490 (33%) Chicago 2256 (62%) 4286 (50%) 6105 (36%) 8868 (27%) New York 10750 (34%) 7757 (21%) Cleveland 1142 (77%) 1238 (55%) 781 (57%) 676 (45%) Honolulu 2256 (62%) 4286 (50%) 2094 (9%)   Gender and Age Groups Co-ed marathons with the highest percent of women were Portland (55.1%) and Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll San Diego (54.5%). As expected, the inaugural P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon also had a high percentage of women (49.2%) but who would have guessed that the rock and roll theme would draw more older runners (47.4% masters or 40 years and older)? The 2004 San Diego version of the musical runs had only 35.1% masters, indicating that local age demographics of Phoenix and San Diego had some influence. The only race with a higher percentage of masters than P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona in 2004 was Portland with 48.4% (the same as in 2000). 2004 Marathons with the Most: Juniors (under 20)    City of Los Angeles Marathon (2,177 finishers) 20 to 29 year olds      LaSalle Bank Chicago (9,475) Males 30 to 39       ING New York City (8,171) Females 30 to 39     LaSalle Bank Chicago (6,940) 40 to 49 year olds   ING New York City (10,874) Males 50 to 59      ING New York City (3,766) Females 50 to 59  Honolulu (1,242) 60 to 90+ year olds   Honolulu (1,927) Marathon Growth, Records and Lists In the U.S., the same 230 marathons for 2003 and 2004 grew by 3.7%, while outside the United States, there was another year of growth with a 5.5% increase for the same 63 marathons in both years. Marathons with the most consistent growth in the last 5 years are Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank (up by 63% from 2000), SunTrust Richmond (up 60%) and Philadelphia (up 47%). Year Estimated U.S. Marathon Finisher Total 1976   25,000 1980   120,000 1990   236,000 1995   312,000 2000   389,000 2001   366,000 2002   388,000 2003   400,000 2004   423,000 Inaugural U.S. marathons - P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona (9,621 finishers), Salt Lake City (2,641) and Nike 26.2 (2,372) and Orange County (1,665) - continued to add excitement and growth to the sport and helped set a record of 58 U.S. marathons with at least 1,000 finishers in the same year (the old record was 54 in 2001 and 2002). Fifteen years ago, there were only 26 U.S. marathons with 1,000 finishers or more. The P.F. Chang's AZ Marathon was also the third largest inaugural marathon ever (behind Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll 1998 and Cologne 1997) and with the half-marathon, the event was the largest inaugural, annual event ever (23,456 finishers). The ING New York City Marathon kept its largest marathon title with 36,562 finishers in 2004 - which also made it the largest marathon ever bettering the 35,868 finishers at the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996. Like past years, the U.S. again had 6 of the 10 largest marathons in the world. For the largest marathon lists, see below. 2004 World's Largest Marathons (finishers): 1) ING New York City, NY 36,562 (largest ever) 2) LaSalle Bank Chicago, IL 33,125 3) Flora London, GBR 31,796 4) Paris, FRA 29,699 5) real Berlin, GER 28,152 6) Honolulu, HI 22,407 7) City of Los Angeles, CA 19,452 8) Chosun Ilbo Chunchon, KOR 17,892 9) Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll, CA 17,217 10) Boston, MA 16,733 U.S. Largest Marathons (finishers): 1) ING New York City, NY 36,562 (largest ever) 2) LaSalle Bank Chicago, IL 33,125 3) Honolulu, HI 22,407 4) City of Los Angeles, CA 19,452 5) Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll, CA 17,217 6) Boston, MA 16,733 7) Marine Corps, DC 16,424 8) P.F. Chang's RnR Arizona 9,621 (inaugural) 9) Walt Disney World, FL 9,371 10) Twin Cities, MN 7,406 11) Grandma's, MN 6,752 12) Philadelphia, PA 6,291 13) Portland, OR 6,174 14) HP Houston, TX 5,384 15) Motorola Austin, TX 5,248 Source: Road Running Information Center - www.RunningUSA.org

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
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