RunSignup’s Midyear Trends show increases in participation and pricing

RunSignup, the leading technology solution for US endurance events, released their midyear trends update. The report is built from internal RunSignup data (representing an estimated 35-40% of the US endurance market) to determine overall changes in the market since the release of the 2022 RaceTrends report. Early 2023 data suggests that registrations are continuing to rise at a slow pace, prices have risen more sharply, and younger runners may be returning to racing.

The topline numbers in the report show that per-race registrations have continued to increase, with average registrations growing 5.8% compared to 2022. Registrations did still lag slightly behind 2019 levels, with a 5.7% average decline for races on the RunSignup platform in both years. Other key takeaways from the report include:

• 6.1% race churn: In pre-pandemic years, RunSignup found that 5-7% of races over 500 participants did not recur in the following year. The churn numbers from early 2023 suggest that the industry has returned to a similar level of churn.
• 10K average price is 13.8% higher than in 2019: For the second year in a row, prices rose for virtually all race distances, likely in response to inflation and rising costs.
• 14.7% of participants between 18-29: Following significant industry concern over declining participation by young adults, the participation by the demographic in early 2023 exceeds that of any  year between 2019-2022. While this is encouraging, young adult participation has not reached the levels seen in 2015-2018.
• 19.9% of registrations on race week: Race week registrations have made up between 24-26% of registrations each of the previous 6 years. In the first six months of 2023, it appears that participants are planning ahead slightly more.

RunSignup Founder and CEO Bob Bickel said about the report, “Without many sources of data in the endurance industry it can be challenging to understand if the experience of any individual race is an anomaly. We share our numbers throughout the years to help races better understand the landscape they are operating within. While this midyear report shows that recovery from the pandemic hasn’t been instant, we are encouraged to see registration numbers for our customers continuing to rise, and we look forward to more improvement throughout the year.”

To read the full 2023 Midyear Update, visit: https://info.runsignup.com/2023/07/06/2023-midyear-trends-update/