2009 Marathon and State of the Sport Reports

Another record year for finishers; healthy growth of U.S. marathons with 1,000 finishers or more; ING New York City again largest ; record 20 marathons worldwide with more than 10,000 finishers

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - (April 16, 2009) - Although the recession has hit hard financially and psychologically, marathons in the U.S. and the world, on average, have weathered the economic storm well, particularly in participation growth as 2008 was another record year in numerous categories as the following Running USA Road Running Information Center annual marathon report indicates. This year also looks promising with marathon sell-outs and record fields across the country including Monday's 113th Boston Marathon which closed its 25,000 plus field on January 26 - its earliest ever.

Table 1: Gender, Age and Median Times

2008 Marathon Snapshot
In the U.S., there was a solid 3.7% increase in finishers for the same 243 marathons for 2007 and 2008 (398,874 vs. 413,644), while outside the United States, the same 75 marathons in both years grew 4.3% (345,237 vs. 360,104).

Overall, in the U.S., there was a 3% increase in the estimated number of marathon finishers (425,000). More than 18 U.S. marathons debuted in 2008 and two of them had more than 1,000 finishers: 26.2 with Donna in Jacksonville Beach, FL (1,680) and Indianapolis Monument (1,114).

Year Estimated U.S. Marathon Finisher Total
1976 25,000
1980 143,000
1990 224,000
1995 293,000
2000 353,000
2004 386,000
2005 395,000
2006 410,000
2007 412,000
2008 425,000 (record total)

Record number of U.S. marathons with more than 1,000 finishers.
Last year in the U.S., 77 marathons had at least 1,000 finishers. The previous record was 73 U.S. marathons in 2007. Ten years ago, there were 41 U.S. marathons with 1,000 finishers or more. Also, in 2008, twelve U.S. marathons had more than 7,000 finishers in the same year (see the listing below).

The U.S. again had 7 of the 15 largest marathons in the world.

Table 2: 2008 U.S. Marathons (>1,000 finishers) with the...

20 marathons worldwide had more than 10,000 finishers in 2008
The ING New York City Marathon kept its crown as the world's largest marathon based on finishers with 38,096 in 2008 - the second largest marathon ever (only the 2007 race was larger). For the first time, 12 marathons had more than 16,000 finishers and 20 marathons surpassed the 10,000 finisher total in the same year (see the listing below).

2008
World's Largest Marathons (finishers):
1) ING New York City, NY 38,096
2) real,- Berlin, GER 35,746
3) Flora London, GBR 34,603
4) Bank of America Chicago, IL 31,343
5) Paris, FRA 28,846
6) Tokyo Int'l, JPN 26,672
7) Boston, MA 21,945
8) Honolulu, HI 20,061
9) Naha, JPN 18,654
10) Marine Corps, DC 18,228
11) City of Los Angeles, CA 17,247
12) Rock 'n' Roll, CA 16,873
13) Conenergy Hamburg, GER 15,782
14) Arakawa Shimin, JPN 13,867
15) Stockholm, SWE 13,542
16) Standard Chartered Singapore 13,028
17) Walt Disney World, FL 12,964
18) Ibusuki Nanohana, JPN 11,215
19) Rome, ITA 10,511
20) Chosunilbo Chunchon, KOR 10,073

U.S. Largest Marathons (finishers):
1) ING New York City, NY 38,096
2) Bank of America Chicago, IL 31,343
3) Boston, MA 21,945
4) Honolulu, HI 20,061
5) Marine Corps, DC 18,228
6) City of Los Angeles, CA 17,247
7) Rock 'n' Roll, CA 16,873
8) Walt Disney World, FL 12,964
9) Medtronic Twin Cities, MN 7,979
10) Portland, OR 7,879
11) Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio, TX 7,618
12) Philadelphia, PA 7,341
13) Grandma's, MN 6,876
14) P.F. Chang's RnR Arizona 6,499
15) Chevron Houston, TX 5,516
16) California Int'l, CA 5,204
17) St. George, UT 5,033
18) Nike Women's, CA 4,916
19) AT&T Austin, TX 4,835
20) Cincinnati Flying Pig, OH 4,734

Source: Running USA - www.RunningUSA.org