Road race #s are way down in 2022 as compared to 2019. Why?

Pandemic blowback.

Virtual races? Pay $35 to run on your own. I wonder what might happen.

I live in a small burg called Los Angeles and we don't have any.

If we DID 80K would show up, but we don't have any.

From what I have heard, the big omicron spike this spring spooked a lot of people and kept numbers down for spring races. Similar issues in training groups with numbers rebounding very slowly from the pandemic. I have also heard that some of the big fall races in my area are seeing a lot more early interest than they did last year. I do not think that the pandemic caused some big shift away from road racing. People are just being cautious and taking time to get back to their normal routine.

I ran a local half last month and plan to run a full next month, the first races for me since COVID began.

People like me are reticent to find themselves in large crowds anymore. COVID deniers and antivaxxers are completely out of touch with how many people out there are still baby-stepping back into 'normal'. Roll your eyes all you want, scold all you want, it just makes you look like an idiot without empathy.

This half was also a local race, nothing special, that charged $95 for entry. $95! I'm still annoyed at that entry fee. The full next month cost $130 and I'm well aware that the biggies cost well over $200 to enter now. Something is WAY OFF there, like races exist in a bubble that's bound to burst.

Back to the half I ran. The crowds for food and beer after the race were crushing, so I just left and went home. Again, the crowd thing that I'm still not comfortable with, and I cannot be alone in that.

In the time since the half I have struggled with maintaining excitement about the full next month. I've run 15 marathons to date and many more shorter races and I've never been unexcited about an upcoming race. Something is different for me now. The cost, the crowds, the fact that I'll finish and just go home most likely, the joy might be gone for me when it comes to typical racing.

I'm actively looking at the hyper-local races put on by clubs now, the gritty $30 cheapies that tend to draw a couple hundred devoted runners, instead of the larger events. If I race at all in the next year or two, it'll probably be at those. Affordable, easy to manage, small crowds, just the brief joy of racing/running against/with some others. That might be the post-pandemic trick for me.

If any proportion of the runners out there relates to these feelings, road racing won't recover for years to come, if ever. One thing is clear: if the FOMO/Instagram runners abandon road racing, race directors had better figure out a different gig.

I think this depends on where you live. I can’t get a last minute Friday night dinner reservation at any worthwhile restaurant. I have to wait for most machines at the gym after work. Traffic is essentially back to pre-pandemic levels.

I’m in FL, and the vast majority of people have abandoned all of the safety protocols implemented early on in the pandemic.

I could see the health compromised, elderly, and obese folks still taking precautions but that is a small percentage of race participants, especially anything longer than a 5K.

I have a few friends in the race directing business and I don't envy them. Permits and other fees to city/police/etc. have become super expensive while the support from the city has hollowed out. In one case a popular race, a $100 half marathon, had to cancel because even if it sold out it would still lose money. The municipalities assume they can keep charging more and the race can pass the increase on to the participants and everyone has reached their limit.

Some races that do survive will have the full support of city mayors and county administrators, and can be special races that take in the best that those places have to offer.

But more of the courses will be on roads/paths that are easy to close and limit city/county boarders they cross to reduce the permits needed. Courses will get more boring as a result.

Also, for whatever reason, keeping a streak going of doing your local race or every year is a strong motivator for participation. Sure, some runners are happy their local races are back and are continuing their tradition as if it never paused, but the pause definitely did end the tradation for some other runners. New runners are starting new streaks this year and will be back next year so the good races will build off of that, but there is some rebuilding that has to be done.

I did notice a lot of runners, even serious ones, stopped running when races were cancelled during the pandemic. I think it's just going to take a while to get back up to full steam, maybe even years, as some of those people are out of the sport completely.

Rising race fees probably have something to do with it, but a race is still about the cost of a night out and people didn't quit doing that.

That's a really good post and I agree with all of it even though I don't share your Covid fears. I have wondered how high entry fees can get before they keep people from entering races. There has to be a tipping point, right? Also, as someone who started road racing when 100 entrants was considered a nearly unmanageably large field even the reduced numbers seem gigantic. It could be a good thing for the sport if race fields got smaller and more manageable.

In my area, the number of races and participants was already starting to drop before covid, so the pandemic just added to the decline. Of races I have done this year, I would guess participation is down about 30 or 40%. There seems to be fewer competitive runners. Also, women are in the majority at most races.

There's so much going on right now because of the COVID hiatus. We've been busy every weekend with rescheduled weddings, reunions, family gatherings, travel, etc. There's little time for racing.

I suspect things with start getting back to "normal" towards the beginning of next year.

What I’ve noticed , like has been mentioned, police are charging a lot more money now to close or secure roads and many small clubs have to put on races in city parks, run on enlarged sidewalks where conflicts with dog walkers and bicyclist sometimes occurs.

People living in neighborhoods who don’t run have become intolerant of the road closures and in my city actually took the race director of my cities biggest and best thanksgiving day race to court.

The RD told me he just gave in to the neighborhood group and cut out two miles or so of surrounding roads. Now the thanksgiving race is 2 and a half loops in nearly a perfect square around the park.

On top of other factors already mentioned, something that's different now compared to 2019 is that millions of people are dealing with the long-term effects of Covid. You feel perfectly well enough to go out to eat or go for a walk, but workouts are suddenly a huge struggle, and the idea of racing when you can't work out doesn't appeal at all. Or if you think it's due to vaccination, I think you're an idiot, but we arrive at the same place from different directions: lots of people aren't in the same place physically that they were in a few years ago.

It is the same for sex. Why pay so much for the real thing when you can have a much cheaper virtual experience? Plus most men have less performance anxiety in a virtual context, whether that be racing or sex.

It's been a big change in the DC area too. Even before the pandemic, the local races began to get less competitive at the top and fewer sub elites were around racing locally. You could still get comp entries and every regional race still had elite fields. Now, nearly all of these regional races have no comp entries, and mostly none have any elite fields. Add on to that the race entry fees have ballooned. When you begin to charge over 100 dollars for a half or 50 for a 10K with no awards for the winners other than medals, people who treat road racing as a sport simply quit showing up. Add in the instagram medal people as others have pointed out, and it makes sense as to why numbers are down.

exactly-maybe after racing for 35 years or so I got my fill, when COVID hit and races disappeared , I did a few time solo trials in 2020; funny thing is I didn't miss the big city 10ks and marathons rather the small community races; The low key X-C races in the spring and fall are great-10 bucks on a weeknight-get to run a time and compete against others without the swag-bags, T-shirts, or selfies...time will tell, but I won't likely do more than a few road races a year now...

Have coordinated running events for 30 years and demographics have changed substantially. In 1990, 70% men, 30% women. Now 60% women and 40% men. Even fewer men running in there 20s. Many guys in their 20s grew up playing video games rather than sports. Twice as many women in their 20s run races than men in their 20s. Last few races we coordinated have been about 90% of pre pandemic rates. We have not raised entry fees for most events since 2018. PD and permitting costs have not increased as a percentage of revenue. Since pandemic casual racers have not come back in droves. Many fewer entries in last 2 weeks before the event. Also many participants in their 50s and 60s have not returned. Women now out number men in every age category except those over 60. Sad that I coordinate a 5k in the winter with unlimited beer and hot dogs and more men in their 50s run in this race than men in their 20s.

I blame Satan and his effective use of Covid to make people lazy, slothful, and physically and mentally weakened so that he can undermine God’s reclamation mission undertook by Jesus who went to cross to bring the lost sheep back to their proper relationship with His creation.

In the UK parkrun had the effect of getting more people entering races, even the ripoff priced ones. Since Covid though even parkrun numbers are down. I think mostly that a certain percentage of people got out of the habit of doing things that involves going out.