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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - (April 11, 2001) - April is marathon month across the
country and the world--from Boston to Big Sur, from Paris to London and points
in-between. A review of the 1999 and 2000 marathon data by the USATF Road
Running Information Center indicates another period of growth here and
world-wide. See tables and lists below.
The preliminary race data, from the larger and more established U.S. events,
shows nearly an 8% increase in finishers for the same 116 marathons from 1999
to 2000, while outside the U.S., the same 32 marathons from 1999 to 2000
reported a 20% increase. If the Paris Marathon is excluded (it grew by over
10,000 finishers), the non-U.S. growth rate is an impressive 15%! In short,
over the past couple of years, marathon mania has become global.
The demographic data indicate that numbers of masters are increasing (by
about 2% of total race finishers per year) but so are the numbers of younger
participants. As a result, the median ages of marathoners have remained steady
over the last five years.
U.S. Marathon Growth
YEAR Estimated # of Finishers
1976 25,000
1980 120,000
1990 260,000
1995 347,000
1996 396,000 (Bostons 100th)
1997 396,000
1998 419,000
1999 435,000
2000 451,000
2000 Worlds Largest Marathons (finishers):
1) Flora London, GBR 31,648
2) New York City, NY 29,375
3) LaSalle Bank Chicago, IL 27,889
4) Paris, FRA 27,596
5) Real Berlin, GER 23,129 (28,824 with Skaters)
6) Honolulu, HI 22,652
7) City of Los Angeles, CA 17,192
8) Marine Corps, DC 17,048
9) Suzuki Rock Roll, CA 15,918
10) Boston, MA 15,668
U.S. Largest Marathons (finishers):
1) New York City, NY 29,375
2) LaSalle Bank Chicago, IL 27,889
3) Honolulu, HI 22,652
4) City of Los Angeles, CA 17,192
5) Marine Corps, DC 17,048
6) Suzuki Rock Roll, CA 15,918
7) Boston, MA 15,668
8) Portland, OR 7,751
9) Walt Disney World, FL 7,660
10) Country Music, TN 6,349
11) Grandmas, MN 6,074
12) Twin Cities, MN 5,907
13) Houston, TX 4,699
14) Philadelphia, PA 4,266
15) St. George, UT 4,161
Demographic Breakdown
1980 1995 1998 1999 2000
Women 10.5% 26% 34% 36% 38%
Juniors 5% 2% 1% 1% 2%
Masters 26% 41% 40% 42% 44%
Median Age 1980 1995 1998 2000
Males 34 38 38 38
Females 31.3 35 34 35
Median Age Overall 37 37
Median Times
In a sample of marathons from 1998 and 2000, the RRIC noted a continuation of
the slowing trend illustrated by the difference in the finisher median times
for each year. As always, due to the selective nature of the event, Boston had
the fastest overall median time (3:41:10) in 2000. Of the five largest
marathons in the U.S., the City of Los Angeles and LaSalle Bank Chicago had the
greatest increase in median times (5:14:00 in 2000 compared to 4:50:00 in 98
for L.A. and 4:26:00 compared to 4:00:00 for Chicago). Marine Corps added about
10 minutes to its median time (4:48:00 in 2000, 4:38:00 in 98) whereas New York
(4:21:30) and Honolulu (5:50:00) stayed about the same over the two-year
period. The marathons have once again been divided into two categories -
classic "Runner Marathons" (like New York, Chicago, St. George, CVS
and Philadelphia) and "Community/Festival Marathons" (such as Disney,
Marine Corps, L.A., Portland and San Diego) to better describe the great
variation in time stats. Both Boston and Honolulu were treated as separate
categories in the Median Time Table below due to their special
characteristics.
* 3:30:12 males in Boston Marathon
* 3:55:25 females in Boston Marathon
* 4:10:00 approximate male median time in "runners marathons"
* 4:30:00 approximate male median time in "community marathons"
* 4:30:00 approximate female median time in "runners marathons"
* 5:10:00 approximate female median time in "community
marathons"
* 5:26:00 males in Honolulu Marathon
* 6:24:30 females in Honolulu Marathon
Source: USA Track & Field Road Running Information Center