“2025 is a hard year to summarize.” That’s how the recently released “Race Trends Annual Industry Report” from RunSignup begins and what follows are 100 pages of facts, figures and explanations that paint a detailed picture of the race and events business in the past year.
“On the other hand, there are concerning signals: growth slowed comparatively and prices continued to rise at a rapid rate. New technologies, from AI to modern social media options make it harder than ever to guess where and how races should reach runners.”
The question at the heart of this report is simple: Are races growing? To do this, RunSignup compared only races that were on its platform in both 2024 and 2025 to establish per-race growth. Across all distances, participation grew five percent year over year.
Growth has slowed somewhat from the 10 percent growth (2022-2023) and eight percent growth (2023-2024) seen the last two years. However, given that races approached their 2019 participation levels in 2023, it is encouraging that there has been growth beyond that level.
Growth was relatively consistent across all distances. However, marathons and triathlons, events that require a significant amount of training and preparation, did see slower growth comparatively.
The general sentiment is that the post-COVID boom has passed, and a sense of uncertainty about the future lingers.
With its charge of navigating new challenges, RunSignup urges run specialty and events to ?keep your focus on community engagement – meet runners where they are (in local running clubs, at running stores, and supporting charities) … and bring that sense of belonging to the race with inclusive distance options, team participation, post-race celebrations, and photo opportunities.
“Instead of striving for an impossible perfection, look for ways to make your event just 10 percent better this year, and then 10 percent next year, and the year after.” With that advice in mind, here are a few of the many, many findings of interest to run specialty:
• There is no sole aggregator of endurance event data in the US, meaning there is not a precise measure of the market. However, from its analysis of endurance industry estimates and aggregate calendars, RunSignup estimates the U.S. market to be in the range of 20-25 million registrations.
• Growth slowed in 2025 compared to the previous two years, but events still grew an average of five percent in 2025.
• Getting participants to return to an event is challenging. Across all events, just 17.2 percent of runners completed the same race and distance in 2024 and 2025. Longer distances see even more attrition, with just 13.7 percent of 2024 half marathoners and 12.8 percent of marathoners coming back in 2025.
• The race schedule is polarized, with significant spikes in spring and fall and very slow winter seasons. In 2025, 26 percent of races took place in September or October.
• Race churn is low. Just 3.1 percent of 2024 races of 500-plus did not return in 2025. That’s the lowest RunSignup has seen since it started tracking churn in 2018, with five percent churn in 2023 and 3.9 percent in 2024.
• Large races had the slowest recovery from COVID, with growth rates that lagged behind that of small and mid-sized events over the last few years. While races over 5000 participants still show slightly slower growth, growth has also slowed for smaller races. Races of all sizes grew 3-6 percent in 2025.
• Following COVID, repeat participation has stabilized, with 17.2 percent of 2024 participants returning to the same event in 2025.
• After the disruptions of COVID, races have returned to a regular schedule with spikes in the spring and fall. Fall races are the most common, with 13.5 percent of all events taking place in September and another 12.5 percent in October. The ever-increasing popularity of Turkey Trots is also evident, with 10.1 percent of all events occurring in November. Of note: a full quarter of all November races took place on a single day (11/28).
• In-person events are again the absolute default, with just three percent of participants opting for a virtual race or challenge. However, races continue to offer more virtual options than they did pre-pandemic; 7.1 percent of all 2025 race events were virtual.
• Women continue to make up the majority of participants, but the gap has narrowed a bit over the last few years. In 2025, 53 percent of participants identified as a woman.
• After a few years of concerning declines in young adult participation, young runners are back. 17.9 percent of 2025 participants were 18-29, the most seen in that age group since 2016.
• Most races are small. In 2025, 85.8 percent of race weekends had fewer than 500 participants, while large events of over 5000 make up just 0.4 percent of races. That means participants are more likely to experience the industry via small events: 36.9 percent of participants registered for a race with 500 or fewer
participants, while just 13.2 percent registered for a race with more than 5000 participants.
Among the RunSignup report’s conclusions and recommendations:
• Prepare for a more challenging growth environment in 2026 by implementing additional revenue streams through add-on merchandise and experiences.
• Loyalty requires effort. Cultivate yours with loyalty programs that provide rewards or membership options that incentivize repeat participation. More than anything, keep your focus on the race day experience – nothing brings people back more than a great time.
• Looking for some opportunities? Winter sees a significant slowdown of races. If you’re up for the challenges of weather and permitting, there’s room for some inventive seasonal runs. Start small to gauge local willingness to get out in adverse conditions.
• Low race churn indicates a stable market, but also means little room for new races. Be intentional about growing your portfolio of races.
• Growth in the endurance industry appears healthy, but did slow in 2025. Guard against potential headwinds by focusing on retention through loyalty programs and expand your funnel via referral programs and community outreach.
• With per-race growth slowing, look for revenue streams beyond just registration. Add-on merch and experiences, paid parking, and VIP options can help boost your revenue even if your participation rate is immobile.
• Longer distances, with their higher training demands and more expensive price points, see fewer repeats than shorter distances. However, we have seen repeat participation for longer events increase slightly over the last few years; in 2025, 11.5% of ultramarathoners repeated the same race, and 12.8% of marathoners returned.
To view the entire report: www.runsignup.com
