RunSignup releases list of Top 100 Largest Road Races in 2023

RunSignup, the leading registration and technology provider for races in the U.S., released a list of the Top 100 Largest Road Races in the United States. In the absence of a single aggregator for US road race data, this report is compiled to improve the industry understanding of the top tier, most attended, events. The report ranks races based on the total finishers for each race weekend in 2023 and evaluates the decline and growth in finishers.

The overall finisher numbers within the Top 100 Largest Race list confirms previous findings that show large races are struggling to regain pre-pandemic participation levels. Just 36% of races on the 2023 list grew compared to 2019. Additionally, the 100th largest race in 2023 had 7,288 finishers while the 100th largest race in 2019 had 9,456 finishers. However, there are also signs of continuing improvement, with 91% of all races on the list growing compared to last year.

Highlights of the report include:

• Five registration platforms hosted 73% of the races, including 19 on RunSignup, 16 on Haku, 15 on Race Roster, 14 on Active, and 9 on Enmotive.
• The top 5 largest races in 2022 included the TCES New York City Marathon & Dash to the Finish Line 5K, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon & 5K, the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, the AJC Peachtree Road Race, and the Boston Marathon & BAA 5K. All five were also in the top 5 in 2022 and exceeded 35,000 finishers in 2023.
• Twenty-nine races experienced growth compared to 2019. The most significant growth was seen by the Hot Chocolate Run - Tampa (156%), NYCRUNS Brooklyn Marathon & Half (103%), BMW Dallas Marathon (77%), Hot Chocolate Run - San Francisco (71%), and Mile High United Way Turkey Trot (56%).
• Nineteen races from the 2019 list did not make the top 100 in 2023. Of those, eleven races did not have enough finishers in 2022 to make the list, six races were discontinued, one race was cancelled due to weather, and one race was virtual.
• The largest single event distance in 2023 was the marathon at the TCS New York City Marathon + Dash to the Finish Line 5K, with 51,348 finishers.

RunSignup continues to study and publish endurance market data to provide insights into a diverse industry with many technology providers. The Top 100 Largest Races report is compiled manually based on publicly available finisher data for timed events. Data adjustments can be submitted to eric@runsignup.com. For more information, view the full report: https://info.runsignup.com/2024/01/12/2023-top-100-largest-races/