SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - (July 14, 2000) - Twenty years ago there were only
four U.S. road races with more than 10,000 finishers (Peachtree 10K, Al's Run
5 Mile, New York City Marathon and Lilac Bloomsday 12K) and the 100th largest
race had 1800 finishers. In 1999, the USATF Road Running Information Center
reports that there were 48 races with more than 10,000 finishers and the
100th race had 5393 finishers. One important difference between then and now
is that many large races have more than one event on the same weekend at the
same location. If you look at these "running festivals" as a whole, 57 had
more than 10,000 finishers last year and the 100th largest had 6400
finishers. The top 100 running festivals included 189 events and a total of
1,450,205 finishers.

Over the years, another stat that the RRIC and its predecessors, the NRDC and
TACSTATS kept for the largest 100 races is the number by distance. From 1989
to 1999 the 5K and the 10K flip-flopped in popularity, mirroring the larger
picture of race number totals summarized in Running USA Wire #50. In 1989,
there were 9 5Ks and 29 10Ks in the Top 100 compared to 35 5Ks and 9 10Ks
just ten years later. In the new list of Largest 100 Timed Races in 1999 (see
description below) the two distances even out a little with 22 5Ks and 16
10Ks.

The next step in assessing total running event participants is to factor in
race personnel, volunteers and friends and family at the start and finish. A
rough estimate for the average festival is to double the number of finishers
to get the participant total and therefore, the 1,450,205 finishers in the
top 100 running festivals translates to 2.9 million participants -- just in
the 100 largest. And those totals do not include spectators which can be very
large numbers in the bigger marathons.

Due to the tremendous growth in non-competitive running events, the RRIC is
presenting a new type of list for 1999 -- the Largest Timed Road Races. This
will help track the more traditional competitive races as well as the fun
run/walk events, thus providing a more complete picture of the running scene.
All of the above types of events are included in the Largest Running
Festivals list.

The two versions of the largest races described above as well as the largest
events by state and distance can be found currently on the USATF Road Running Information Center website (http://www.usaldr.org). All lists but the Timed
Road Races may contain estimated totals which are denoted by an "E" after the
finisher number. For more information about these lists, contact RRIC at
rric@runningusa.org or (805) 696-6232.

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Special thanks to 
Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Coordinator for providing us this press release.
USATF Road Running Information Center
5522 Camino Cerralvo, Santa Barbara, CA 93111
(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 696-6252
http://www.usaldr.org