Running spans mass participation events, recreational training, elite performance and measurable health outcomes. The figures below distinguish event counts from population research, observed results from estimates, and running-only evidence from studies that combine running with walking.
Key Running Statistics
These highlights capture the most broadly useful measures across participation, risk, outcomes and performance:
- In 2024, 55,644 finishers completed the New York City Marathon in New York City, United States.
- In 2024, the New York City Marathon’s average finish time was 4:31:31 in New York City.
- In 2024, the New York City Marathon included finishers from 137 countries.
- In 2024, 25,640 finishers completed the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts, United States.
- In 2024, 54,218 runners started the London Marathon in the United Kingdom.
- In 2024, 15,134 finishers completed the Vitality London 10,000 in London, United Kingdom.
- From studies published through 2015, weighted injury incidence was 17.8 per 1,000 running hours among novice runners.
- From studies published through 2015, weighted injury incidence was 7.7 per 1,000 running hours among recreational runners.
- In a 2019 Amsterdam event-preparation cohort, 142 of 706 recreational runners reported an injury, an incidence proportion of 20.1%.
- Across six prospective cohorts with follow-ups of 5.5 to 35 years, running was associated with 27% lower all-cause mortality risk among adults.
- Across the same cohorts, running was associated with 30% lower cardiovascular mortality risk.
- Across the same cohorts, running was associated with 23% lower cancer mortality risk.
- In a prospective cohort of 109,352 runners and 40,798 walkers, respiratory-disease mortality decreased 7.9% per additional MET-hour per day.
- Among adults with hypertension, 1.8–3.6 MET-hours per day of running or walking was associated with 29% lower all-cause mortality.
- Across adults in 199 unique cohorts, high versus low cardiorespiratory fitness had a pooled all-cause mortality hazard ratio of 0.47.
- In a biomechanics review, higher running cadence had a small association with lower oxygen or energy cost at r = −0.20.
- In a 1980 treadmill experiment of well-conditioned adult runners, running velocity explained 86.0% of oxygen-uptake variance.
- In a 1989 experiment of 12 healthy adult men, peak vertical ground-reaction force rose from approximately 2.0 to 2.9 body weights as speed increased from 1.5 to 6.0 m/s.
Contents
- Running participation and event scale
- Road-race participation trends and performance
- Running injury incidence and risk factors
- Running, mortality and respiratory outcomes
- Running, fitness and broader health outcomes
- Running economy, energy cost and biomechanics
Running Participation Statistics and Event Scale
Large races show the scale of organized running, but their counts are event-specific rather than estimates of how many people run in the wider population. The 2024 New York City Marathon had 55,644 finishers, an average finish time of 4:31:31, and finishers from 137 countries (TCS New York City Marathon).
| 2024 event measure | Reported figure | Geography and definition |
|---|---|---|
| New York City Marathon finishers | 55,644 | New York City; finishers |
| Boston Marathon finishers | 25,640 | Massachusetts; finishers |
| London Marathon starters | 54,218 | United Kingdom; starters |
| London Marathon finishers by 17:50 | More than 51,000 | United Kingdom; checkpoint count |
| Mini London Marathon young runners | 12,904 | United Kingdom; youth event |
The Boston Marathon recorded 25,640 total finishers in 2024. Its organizer reported a $71.9 million philanthropic impact and a $509.1 million economic impact on Greater Boston; both dollar figures are organizer-reported estimates, and the methodology for the philanthropic estimate was not detailed on the page (Celebration Page Template – 2024).
New York Road Runners reported $520 million raised for charity from 2006 through 2024 through the New York City Marathon program. This is an organizer-reported cumulative fundraising figure, not a measure of runner spending or economic output (TCS New York City Marathon).
Running USA reported that 10 U.S. races in its 2024 top-races report had more than 25,000 finishers each, while the 25 largest races represented 15 states. More than one-third of the report’s top 100 races were half marathons, so these figures describe the report universe and its top-race subset rather than every U.S. race (Running USA Launches the 2024 Top Races Report, Celebrating a Historic Year for Running).
Road-Race Running Trends and Performance Data
The Vitality London 10,000 illustrates how a single event can expand and contract across years. It grew from just over 6,000 finishers in 2008 to a record 19,563 in 2019, then recorded 13,600 in 2022, 12,207 in 2023 and 15,134 in 2024 (Resources | London Marathon Events).
| Event-year measure | Figure | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Vitality London 10,000, 2008 | Just over 6,000 | Finishers |
| Vitality London 10,000, 2019 | 19,563 | Record finishers |
| Vitality London 10,000, 2022 | 13,600 | Finishers |
| Vitality London 10,000, 2023 | 12,207 | Finishers |
| Vitality London 10,000, 2024 | 15,134 | Finishers |
The 2024 London 10,000 field included 7,876 men, 7,239 women and 17 non-binary participants in the organizer’s categories. The same event recorded a women’s course record of 30:23 in 2022 and a men’s course record of 27:44 in 2010; these are elite course records, not typical participant times (Resources | London Marathon Events).
Elite marathon results provide another performance benchmark. At the 2024 London Marathon, Peres Jepchirchir ran 2:16:16, beating the women’s-only world record by 45 seconds, while Emile Cairess ran 2:06:46, reported as the second-fastest time ever by a British man (Records tumble as London celebrates its biggest marathon).
Running Injury Statistics and Risk Factors
Injury estimates depend strongly on the definition, runner type and exposure denominator. A systematic review of studies published through 2015 found running-related injury incidence ranging from 2.5 to 33.0 injuries per 1,000 running hours across multiple runner populations and countries (Incidence of Running-Related Injuries Per 1000 h of running in Different Types of Runners).
The review’s weighted estimates were 17.8 injuries per 1,000 running hours for novice runners (95% CI 16.7–19.1) and 7.7 per 1,000 running hours for recreational runners (95% CI 6.9–8.7). The definitions and runner types were heterogeneous, so these values should not be treated as a universal personal risk.
In an Amsterdam event-preparation cohort of recreational runners preparing for an 8-km or 16-km event, 142 of 706 included runners reported an injury, an incidence proportion of 20.1%. Only 706 of 5,327 initially surveyed participants were included, and the study was published in 2019 (Injury incidence and risk factors).
Previous injury was associated with 1.7 times the odds of a new running injury in the Amsterdam cohort’s multivariate analysis (95% CI 1.1–2.5). This is an observational association, not proof that previous injury caused the later outcome.
In a 52-week Gothenburg Half Marathon cohort of 224 recreational runners and 448 legs, cumulative injury incidence was 29.0% when legs were the analysis unit. Medically diagnosed injuries were used, so this estimate is not directly interchangeable with runner-level or self-reported injury measures (Associations between biomechanical and clinical/anthropometrical factors and running-related injuries).
The Gothenburg study reported two exploratory associations: runners with late timing of maximal foot eversion sustained 20.7% more injuries than the reference group (95% CI 1.3–40.0%), while runners with weak hip abductors relative to adductors sustained 17.3% more injuries (95% CI 0.8–33.7%). These findings were population- and study-specific.
Running, Mortality and Respiratory Outcomes
A systematic review and meta-analysis of six prospective cohorts, with follow-ups of 5.5 to 35 years, found running associated with lower mortality among adults versus no running. The pooled estimates were 27% lower all-cause mortality risk (HR 0.73; 95% CI 0.68–0.79), 30% lower cardiovascular mortality risk (HR 0.70; 95% CI 0.49–0.98), and 23% lower cancer mortality risk (HR 0.77; 95% CI 0.68–0.87) (Is running associated with a lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality).
The meta-regression found 0 significant dose-response trends for weekly running frequency and 0 significant trends for weekly running duration. That does not prove identical effects at every frequency or duration, and the evidence is observational rather than a randomized test of running alone.
A separate prospective cohort combining 109,352 runners and 40,798 walkers reported respiratory-disease mortality decreasing 7.9% per additional MET-hour per day. Respiratory-disease-related mortality decreased 7.3% per additional MET-hour per day, while pneumonia mortality decreased 13.1% when pneumonia was the underlying cause and aspiration-pneumonia mortality decreased 19.9% (Dose-response relationship between exercise and respiratory disease mortality).
These respiratory findings combine running and walking exposures. The combined design means the figures should not be presented as running-only causal effects.
Running, Fitness and Broader Health Outcomes
Among adults with hypertension, 1.8–3.6 MET-hours per day of running or walking was associated with lower mortality than less than 1.07 MET-hours per day. The reported associations were 29% lower all-cause mortality, 34% lower cardiovascular mortality, 55% lower cerebrovascular mortality and 47% lower dysrhythmia mortality (Walking and running produce similar reductions in cause-specific disease mortality in hypertensives).
| Outcome among adults with hypertension | Associated difference | Exposure comparison |
|---|---|---|
| All-cause mortality | 29% lower | 1.8–3.6 vs less than 1.07 MET-hours/day |
| Cardiovascular mortality | 34% lower | Same comparison |
| Cerebrovascular mortality | 55% lower | Same comparison |
| Dysrhythmia mortality | 47% lower | Same comparison |
The exposure combines running and walking, and the findings are observational. They therefore describe an association with activity exposure in adults with hypertension, not a randomized estimate of running’s independent effect.
An overview of adult fitness meta-analyses covering studies published from 2002 through March 2024 represented 20.9 million observations from 199 unique cohorts. High versus low cardiorespiratory fitness had a pooled all-cause mortality HR of 0.47, while each 1-MET higher fitness level was associated with an 11%–17% lower all-cause mortality risk and an 18% lower heart-failure risk (HR 0.82) (Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong and consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality among adults).
Fitness is broader than running, and the overview is an observational synthesis. Its estimates should not be converted into a direct randomized running effect.
Running Economy, Energy Cost and Biomechanics Statistics
Running economy research links oxygen or energy cost with measurable movement variables, but most associations are observational. A systematic review found higher cadence associated with a small reduction in oxygen or energy cost at r = −0.20, smaller vertical displacement at r = 0.35, higher vertical stiffness at r = −0.31, and higher leg stiffness at r = −0.28 (The Relationship Between Running Biomechanics and Running Economy).
Biomechanical variables considered in isolation explained about 4%–12% of between-person variation in running economy. For vertical oscillation normalized for step length, the correlation was r = 0.20 across only 2 studies and 24 participants, with a confidence interval of −1.00 to 1.00, making that estimate highly uncertain.
A pooled equation for horizontal treadmill and track running estimated oxygen uptake as VO2 = 2.209 + 3.163 × speed in km/h. The equation was published in 1982 and pooled evidence from trained and untrained male and female runners, so it is a historical estimate rather than a personalized prediction (Gross energy cost of horizontal treadmill and track running).
In a 1980 experiment involving well-conditioned adult runners, treadmill oxygen-uptake and energy-expenditure relationships were studied from 8.8 to 16.9 km/h. A one-variable linear model explained 86.0% of oxygen-uptake variance and 89.7% of energy-expenditure variance from running velocity; adding body mass produced r² values of 0.895 for oxygen uptake and 0.901 for energy expenditure (Oxygen uptake and energy expenditure during horizontal treadmill running).
A 1989 experiment of 12 healthy adult men found peak vertical ground-reaction force rising from approximately 2.0 to 2.9 body weights as speed increased from 1.5 to 6.0 m/s. Anteroposterior and mediolateral peak-force measures increased about 2–4 times with speed, and a vertical impact peak was observed in rearfoot strikers but generally not forefoot strikers; these were small, selected laboratory findings rather than injury rates (Ground reaction forces at different speeds of human walking and running).