jjjjjj wrote:
Already in 2014, there was a small drop from 2013 after a 300% increase from 1990 to 2013. #'s across the board seem to be dropping further in 2016.
This is a good thing if it stems the tide of rapidly increasing entry fees. It's not likely to have much effect on the already rare and meager prizes.
http://www.runningusa.org/2015-state-of-sport-us-trends
Five things:
1. Running a road to some people is a one time experience, kind of like a bucket list item. For obvious reasons, at some point those types of participants start to dwindle as they have had the experience.
2. A lot of recreational runners are now doing adventure/obstacle course type races, which I assume are not counted in the road race numbers.
3. Running a road race use to cost about the same as a movie and popcorn, now they are the cost of a concert. A person might pay for a movie a couple times a year, but only do a concert once a year for example. There are a lot of young and low income runners who simply can't afford to do road races on a regular basis anymore.
4. As more and more road races are added and more people did them, the prestige has gone away. While running a half or full marathon is still marque, completing the shorter races does not impress as much anymore.
5. Middle aged men are becoming lazy, nowadays, 2/3rd of the road participants are women. I see the same thing when I go to the YMCA. A lot of men would rather spent time in their man care watching sports than participating; flat screen TVs are killing people. I see men with big beer guts complaining about the fact that their wife whose half their weight has gained a few pounds.