RunSignup reports (another) record-breaking Thanksgiving Day for running

RunSignup, the leading US technology provider for endurance events, released their event participation numbers for Thanksgiving Day, the biggest US running day of the year. In 2024, the platform had a record 1,109,909 participants registered to participate in 936 races across the country, with more than $3.6 million dollars raised for charity.

The headline of the report is that running participation on Thanksgiving appears to be growing both in terms of participation and available races. On RunSignup, there was a 21% increase in registrants and a 12% increase in races using the platform compared to 2023. Those increases can be attributed to several factors, including an increase in registration market share for RunSignup. But there are definitely indications of growth beyond just RunSignup: at least 70 inaugural turkey trots entered the market while just 20 turkey trots closed up shop. Additionally, it also appears that the average turkey trot saw an increase in participation, with per-race participation growing 12% compared to 2023.

Additional key takeaways from the report include:

• Thanksgiving Day races are larger than most annual races, with an average of 1,185 participants per race. 34% of all Thanksgiving Day races exceeded 1000 registrants.
• After a few tough post-pandemic years for large races, races of all sizes grew in 2024. Races with more than 5,000 participants in 2023 grew by an average of 8% in 2024.
• 5 km races dominate the day, with 92% of races including a 5K option. The next most popular options were a kids dash (26%) and a 1 mile (20%), highlighting the inclusive nature of turkey trots.
• The majority of turkey trots (82%) supported one or more charities. The community impact is clear: Thanksgiving Day races raised a total of $3,615,558.43.
• Turkey trots fare better with younger runners than year-round races, with 19% of all Thanksgiving Day participants between the ages of 18-29 (compared to 16% in all of 2023).
• The RaceDay CheckIn App was widely used, with 54% of races using the app to check in 66% of registrants.
• Attendance on race day was high, with 93% of registered participants checked in (among races using the app).

RunSignup Founder and CEO Bob Bickel said about the day, “Turkey trots are one of our favorite traditions, with so many multi-generational families out running together. We are proud of the infrastructure work we have done to ensure the RunSignup platform can handle high levels of Thanksgiving Day traffic with no slowdowns – in 2024, we had 45,400 page views per minute at peak (that’s 750+ per second).”

With no single-source of turkey trot participation numbers across registration platforms, it can be hard to ascertain national participation. However, the consistent increases across all metrics suggest that participation has indeed grown since the last cross-platform report when Running USA reported 961,882 finishers in 2016. It remains to be seen how much growth is still possible!

For more information, visit: https://info.runsignup.com/2024/12/03/2024-turkey-trots-break-records-again/