Running events span local 5Ks, ultras and globally prominent marathons. The figures below describe U.S. platform activity in 2023–2024, official 2024 New York and Boston Marathon results, 2025 operational data, and injury findings from a prospective New York City Marathon training cohort.
Key Running Event Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- 58,636 U.S. events appeared on RunSignup in 2024, compared with 56,468 in 2023.
- 8,403,284 participants took part in RunSignup event types in the U.S. in 2024, up from 7,764,367 in 2023.
- Comparable RunSignup races recorded 8.2% participation growth from 2023 to 2024 in the United States.
- 5K-and-shorter events recorded 5,397,200 U.S. participants in 2024, up from 4,931,999 in 2023.
- Ultra participation reached 187,907 U.S. participants in 2024, up 14.2% from 2023 on RunSignup.
- Events with fewer than 500 participants recorded 2,882,647 U.S. participants in 2024, a 10.0% increase from 2023.
- The Plains region recorded 1.7% RunSignup growth from 2023 to 2024, while all but one other region grew 7%–12%.
- Ten U.S. races had more than 25,000 finishers in 2024, according to Running USA’s top-race coverage.
- The 2024 TCS New York City Marathon had 55,642 finishers.
- The first New York City Marathon in 1970 had 127 starters and 55 finishers.
- The 2024 Boston Marathon had 25,640 finishers.
- The 2024 Boston Marathon’s Greater Boston economic impact was estimated at $509.1 million by the B.A.A.
- NYRR listed 11,000 volunteers for New York City Marathon race week and race day in its 2025 media guide.
- More than 130,000 visitors attended the 2024 New York City Marathon Expo.
- 398 of 1,049 runners, or 38.4%, reported an injury during a 16-week NYC Marathon training period.
- 447 of 1,049 runners, or 42.6%, had an injury across the study observation window covering training and race participation.
- 50.1% of injured runners in the NYC cohort received medical care.
Contents
- Key Running Event Statistics
- U.S. Running Event Participation and Growth
- Running Event Statistics by Distance
- Race Size and Regional Running Event Trends
- Major Marathon Running Event Statistics
- Running Event Volunteers, Logistics and Economic Impact
- Running Event Injury Statistics
U.S. Running Event Participation and Growth
RunSignup’s 2024 RaceTrends report provides a large platform view of U.S. endurance-event activity. It recorded 56,468 events in 2023 and 58,636 in 2024, while participants across all listed event types rose from 7,764,367 to 8,403,284.
The report’s comparable-race measure showed 8.2% participation growth from 2023 to 2024, and it also reported average event growth of 8.2% in 2024. These are platform-specific measures, not a census of every U.S. race.
- In the report’s historical comparison, 2023 participation was 1% below 2019 levels for the matched data set.
- Running USA reported that 5K races remained the most popular entry point in its 2024 top-race report.
- More than one-third of the 100 races in Running USA’s 2024 top-100 list were half marathons.
- Ten U.S. races had more than 25,000 finishers in 2024.
- The 25 largest U.S. races represented 15 states.
Sources: RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 and Running USA’s 2024 Top Races Report. Running USA’s distance findings describe the composition of its ranked lists, not national participation rates.
Running Event Statistics by Distance
RunSignup groups distance categories cumulatively, so “10K and shorter,” for example, includes events at 10K and below. The categories should not be treated as mutually exclusive counts.
| Distance category | Events 2023 → 2024 | Participants 2023 → 2024 | Participation change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5K and shorter | 30,532 → 31,034 | 4,931,999 → 5,397,200 | 9.4% |
| 10K and shorter | 5,677 → 5,745 | 923,713 → 1,005,491 | 8.9% |
| Half marathon and shorter | 3,944 → 3,952 | 813,702 → 863,193 | 6.1% |
| Marathon and shorter | 1,855 → 1,894 | 233,053 → 237,297 | 1.8% |
| Ultra | 2,021 → 2,022 | 164,546 → 187,907 | 14.2% |
The largest listed distance-category participation increase was in ultras, which grew 14.2% from 2023 to 2024. By contrast, marathon-and-shorter participation grew 1.8% over the same period.
Triathlon is included in RunSignup’s wider endurance-event reporting but is not a running-only race category. Triathlon events increased from 1,700 to 1,756, participants rose from 141,642 to 146,832, and participation grew 3.7% from 2023 to 2024.
Source: RunSignup RaceTrends 2024. The figures are U.S. RunSignup platform data, and the ultra category follows RunSignup’s definition.
Race Size and Regional Running Event Trends
RunSignup’s race-size analysis uses event-weekend matching. It shows stronger growth among smaller events than among the largest events in the matched platform data.
| Event-size group | Participants 2023 → 2024 | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 500 participants | 2,620,632 → 2,882,647 | 10.0% |
| 501–1,000 participants | 1,351,852 → 1,443,498 | 6.8% |
| 1,001–5,000 participants | 2,339,916 → 2,519,134 | 7.7% |
| More than 5,000 participants | 876,828 → 921,599 | 5.1% |
The under-500-participant group added the fastest growth rate shown in this comparison, at 10.0%. The more-than-5,000 group grew 5.1%, so event scale and participation momentum did not move identically across the reported groups.
Regionally, all but one RunSignup region recorded 7%–12% growth from 2023 to 2024. The Plains region was the outlier at 1.7%; RunSignup defines that region as Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Source: RunSignup RaceTrends 2024. The regional statement gives a range rather than each region’s exact percentage, and the geography is RunSignup’s platform definition.
Major Marathon Running Event Statistics
Official race-organization statistics illustrate the scale of marquee events, but finishers, starters and cumulative totals measure different populations. The 2024 TCS New York City Marathon had 55,642 finishers, while the 2024 Boston Marathon had 25,640.
New York’s long-run history also shows how the event expanded. The first race in 1970 had 127 starters and 55 finishers; NYRR reports 1,503,863 starters and 1,462,958 finishers cumulatively from 1970 through the 2024 race.
| Marathon measure | New York City Marathon | Boston Marathon |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 finishers | 55,642 | 25,640 |
| Historical cumulative total supplied | 1,503,863 starters, 1,462,958 finishers through 2024 | Not supplied |
| First-race statistic supplied | 127 starters and 55 finishers in 1970 | Not supplied |
Sources: 2025 TCS New York City Marathon Media Guide and 2024 Boston Marathon By The Numbers. The Boston and New York figures are official organization statistics and should not be interpreted as equivalent measures of registrations or starters.
Running Event Volunteers, Logistics and Economic Impact
Large running events depend on labor and physical infrastructure beyond the finish line. NYRR’s 2025 media guide listed 11,000 volunteers throughout New York City Marathon race week and race day, including 8,000 race-day volunteers and 650 Race Week Ambassador volunteers.
The 2024 New York City Marathon Expo drew more than 130,000 visitors and occupied more than 300,000 square feet. More than 25,000 runners were transported to the start on the Staten Island Ferry.
Boston’s organizer reported two separate 2024 impact estimates. The Boston Marathon and its official charity program generated a $71.9 million philanthropic impact, while the Greater Boston economic impact was estimated at $509.1 million.
These dollar figures are organizer-reported impact estimates, not audited race revenue and not randomized economic evaluations. Likewise, expo visitors and transported runners are operational populations, not additional race finishers.
Sources: 2025 TCS New York City Marathon Media Guide and 2024 Boston Marathon By The Numbers.
Running Event Injury Statistics from Marathon Training
A peer-reviewed prospective observational study followed 1,049 runners during a 16-week training period around the New York City Marathon. It is a single cohort of runners training for one marathon, not a random population sample, so its findings should not be generalized to all runners or all events.
| Injury or care measure | Result | Population and period |
|---|---|---|
| Training injury reports | 398 of 1,049, or 38.4% | NYC Marathon cohort, 16-week training period |
| Race-period injury reports | 14.1% | Relevant surveyed runners during race week and race |
| Overall injury prevalence | 447 of 1,049, or 42.6% | Training plus race observation window |
| Injured runners receiving medical care | 224 of 447, or 50.1% | Same cohort and observation window |
| Physical therapy during training | 115 of 1,037, or 11.1% | Training survey respondents |
| Physical therapy post-race | 44 of 907, or 4.9% | Post-race survey respondents |
Hamstring injury was the most frequent diagnosis in the study, accounting for 38 of 564 injuries, or 6.7%. The diagnosis denominator is recorded injuries rather than all runners, while the physical-therapy denominators differ because survey response availability differed.
Source: Injury patterns and healthcare utilisation by runners of the New York City Marathon. The study reports prevalence across its observation window, not an annual injury rate, and care-seeking results may not generalize beyond this cohort.