Endurance sports statistics at a glance
Endurance sports in 2024 were shaped by scale, event size, timing, pricing, and a clear shift toward mobile-first registration behavior. The numbers from RunSignup’s 2024 RaceTrends report show a market that is still broadening while staying heavily concentrated in in-person racing (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
Table of contents
- Fast facts
- Endurance sports market size
- Event mix and participation
- Demographics
- Registration behavior
- Pricing, coupons, and donations
- Technology and timing operations
- Retention and churn
- What the numbers suggest
Fast facts
- 10,808,867 registrations were covered by RunSignup’s 2024 RaceTrends report (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- RunSignup estimated its data represented at least 45% to 50% of the U.S. race registration market in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- The U.S. endurance market was estimated at 20 million to 25 million registrations in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- The report included more than 85,000 race events (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- The endurance industry grew 8.2% in 2024 on a per-race basis (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 92.1% of events were in-person, while 96.8% of registrations were in-person (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 72% of transactions took place on a mobile device (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
Big number: the report’s scale matters because it captures both the size of the market and how the market behaves across event formats, prices, and participant segments (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
Endurance sports market size
The clearest headline in the endurance sports statistics dataset is simple: the market is large, and the tracked sample is substantial enough to explain a big slice of it. RunSignup’s 2024 RaceTrends report covered 10,808,867 registrations and estimated that those registrations represented at least 45% to 50% of the U.S. race registration market (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
That estimate places the full U.S. endurance market at 20 million to 25 million registrations in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). For a reader trying to understand the category, this matters because the market is not a niche collection of local races. It is a national-scale participation economy with enough volume to influence pricing, product design, registration systems, timing tools, and event planning.
The report also covered more than 85,000 race events (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). That event count is important for two reasons:
- It shows the category is not dominated by only a small number of giant events.
- It makes the averages more believable, because the data reflect a very wide spread of race sizes and formats.
Why this scale matters
A market this broad tends to behave differently from a single-sport or single-distance niche. The 2024 numbers suggest endurance sports operate as a layered market:
- big flagship events,
- a large middle tier of established races,
- and a deep base of small local events.
That structure helps explain why pricing, registration timing, and race-week activity vary so sharply across event types and participation ranges.
Event mix and participation
The event mix shows endurance sports in 2024 were overwhelmingly in-person. 92.1% of events were in-person, 6.9% were virtual races, and 1.0% were virtual challenges (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
Registrations were even more concentrated. 96.8% of registrations were in-person, compared with 2.4% for virtual events and 0.8% for virtual challenges (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). That gap between event share and registration share is useful: it suggests virtual formats exist across the event landscape, but the registration volume is still anchored in physical participation.
Event size distribution
The dataset shows a strong skew toward smaller races. Event-weekend participation and event counts both tilt toward lower-attendance competitions.
| Metric | Share | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 race weekends with 100 or fewer participants | 46.0% | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| 2024 race weekends with 101 to 500 participants | 40.9% | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| 2024 race weekends with 501 to 1,000 participants | 7.8% | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| 2024 race weekends with 1,001 to 2,500 participants | 3.9% | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| 2024 race weekends with 500 or fewer participants | 87% | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| 2024 participants in races with 500 or fewer participants | 38% | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
That table tells a clear story. Most race weekends are small, but the participant pool is not equally concentrated in the smallest events. Even though 87% of race weekends had 500 or fewer participants, those events accounted for 38% of participants (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). Small events are numerous, but the participation weight is still spread across larger races.
Size bands in participant volume
Participant counts by size band reinforce the same point:
- Events with fewer than 500 participants accounted for 2,882,647 participants in 2024, up from 2,620,632 in 2023 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Events with 501 to 1,000 participants accounted for 1,443,498 participants in 2024, up from 1,351,852 in 2023 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Events with 1,001 to 5,000 participants accounted for 2,519,134 participants in 2024, up from 2,339,916 in 2023 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Events with 5,000 or more participants accounted for 921,599 participants in 2024, up from 876,828 in 2023 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
The growth rates in the report add another layer:
- Races with more than 5,000 participants grew 5.1% from 2023 to 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Races with fewer than 500 participants grew 10.0% from 2023 to 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- The endurance industry grew 8.2% in 2024 on a per-race basis (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
The most interesting takeaway is that the smallest races were not stagnant background noise. They grew faster than the largest races, which suggests local and community-scale endurance events remained highly active in 2024.
Demographics
The demographic data point to a broad participant base with a female majority and a meaningful spread across age groups.
Gender mix
- Male participants accounted for 44.6% of participation (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Female participants accounted for 53.2% of participation (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Non-binary participants accounted for 0.2% of participation (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Registrants with no gender recorded accounted for 2.0% of participation (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
The most important pattern is the overall balance: participation is not clustered overwhelmingly in one gender group. The female share is higher than the male share, which is a useful signal for event organizers, marketers, and equipment brands trying to understand audience composition.
Age mix
The age distribution shows endurance sports spread across both younger and older participants:
- Under 18: 19.4% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 18 to 29: 16.2% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 30 to 39: 19.8% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 40 to 49: 18.0% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 50 to 59: 12.8% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 60 to 69: 7.4% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 70 and older: 2.5% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
What the age data suggest
Three things stand out:
- The sport is not narrowly concentrated in one age band.
- The largest shares sit in the under 18, 30 to 39, and 40 to 49 groups.
- Participation continues well into older age groups, even if the shares taper off as age rises.
That distribution matters because it implies endurance sports can support both family-oriented participation and adult recreational competition at the same time.
Registration behavior
Endurance sports are not only about who shows up. The timing of registrations shows how people commit to races and when the market is most active.
Race-week and long-lead registrations
The data reveal two very different planning styles:
- 26.3% of 5K registrations happened in race week (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 62% of 5K runners registered within the last month before race day (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 41.6% of marathon registrations happened 120 or more days before race day (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 23.6% of triathlon registrations happened 120 or more days before race day (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
This is one of the most useful contrasts in the whole dataset. Shorter races tend to pull in late decisions, while longer or more complex events attract earlier commitments.
Time-of-day registration patterns
The registration clock also has a clear rhythm:
- Midnight to 6 a.m.: 2.2% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.: 10.4% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 9 a.m. to noon: 21.2% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- Noon to 3 p.m.: 18.8% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.: 17.0% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.: 18.4% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- 9 p.m. to midnight: 12.0% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
The peak period was 9 a.m. to noon, which accounted for 21.2% of registrations (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). That is a practical detail for campaign timing, reminder emails, and customer support coverage.
Pricing, coupons, and donations
Pricing in endurance sports rises with event complexity and distance. The average entry fee ladder makes that obvious.
| Event type | Average entry price in 2024 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 5K | $33.10 | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| 10K | $45.66 | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| Half marathon | $73.30 | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| Marathon | $104.65 | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| Ultra | $111.68 | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
| Triathlon | $118.28 | RunSignup RaceTrends 2024 |
Price spread and variability
The dataset also includes low-to-high price spread figures:
- Marathon spread: $36.23 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- Ultra spread: $35.02 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- Triathlon spread: $36.23 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
The spread figures suggest pricing is not static even within a single race type. Event organizers use tiering, timing windows, and late registration premiums to shape revenue and urgency.
Coupon behavior
Coupons were present, but not dominant:
- 6.3% of registrations used a coupon in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- The average coupon discount was $12.74 in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
That means discounts are part of the marketing toolkit, but they are not driving the majority of signups.
Donation patterns
The donation data show a different kind of concentration:
- 62.6% of donations were under $25 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Donations under $25 accounted for 15.6% of total donation dollars (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Donations of $250 or more made up 2.0% of all donations (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- Donations of $250 or more accounted for 29.3% of total donation dollars (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
That split is important. Small donations dominate the count, but a tiny share of large donations drives a disproportionate share of dollars.
Technology and timing operations
The report includes a useful view into the operational side of the endurance industry, especially timing services and hardware.
- 33% of surveyed timers added new services or technologies in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 49.1% of timers added more than 5 new events in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 33% of survey respondents used RaceDay Scoring (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 31% of survey respondents used MYLAPS hardware (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
- 20% of races scored by The Race Director used MYLAPS hardware (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
The operational takeaway is that the sector continues to invest in tools and services rather than standing still. Timing is a technical service layer, not just a back-office function, and the 2024 data show active adoption and expansion.
Retention and churn
Repeat participation and churn are often the most revealing stats in a category like endurance sports, because they show whether the market depends more on new signups or returning runners.
The report states that overall repeat participation was 17.4% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). It also notes that 3.9% of 2023 races with more than 500 participants did not recur in 2024 (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
A few more churn figures add monthly texture:
- May 2024 no-race churn: 3.7% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- April 2024 no-race churn: 6.6% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- July 2024 no-race churn: 1.9% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- November 2024 no-race churn: 1.6% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- January 2024 no-race churn: 5.8% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- February 2024 no-race churn: 4.9% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- March 2024 no-race churn: 6.2% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- June 2024 no-race churn: 3.2% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- August 2024 no-race churn: 5.2% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- September 2024 no-race churn: 4.7% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
- October 2024 no-race churn: 5.2% (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024)
The monthly churn figures vary, but the larger message is that race calendars are not perfectly stable. Some months are more vulnerable to event absence than others, and the industry has to keep refreshing its calendar to maintain momentum.
What the numbers suggest
The endurance sports statistics in this dataset point to a category with three defining traits:
- it is large enough to be structurally important in U.S. participation sports,
- it is dominated by in-person events and mobile behavior, and
- it is split across a wide range of event sizes, ages, and pricing tiers (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024).
The strongest single pattern is probably the combination of scale and fragmentation. There are more than 85,000 events, most of them small, yet the market still adds up to 20 million to 25 million registrations overall (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). That means endurance sports succeed because they support many different event formats at once.
The second major pattern is timing. Registration activity is often compressed into specific windows, whether that means race week for 5Ks or long-lead planning for marathons and triathlons (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). For organizers, that makes communication timing just as important as event design.
The third pattern is the continued relevance of local scale. Small races were numerous, and they grew 10.0% when looking at races with fewer than 500 participants, faster than the biggest events in the dataset (RunSignup RaceTrends 2024). That is a strong sign that endurance sports still rely on a healthy base of community events, not only marquee races.