Running USA: Half-Marathon Report

Running USA released the annual Half-Marathon Report, looking at last year's trends in the sport's fastest growing distance. Half-Marathons have become increasingly popular over the last decade with double-digit growth each of the last six years. Similar to the Marathon growth trend released earlier this year (Marathon Report), participation in the 13.1 mile distance has slowed when compared to 2009 and 2010 (24%), however still benefited from a 16.2% increase in 2011.

Since 1990, the total number of US half-marathon finishers has gone from 303,000 to over 1.6 million in 2011, including a 234% increase since 2000. Of course, the Rock 'n' Roll Series didn't exist in 1990 and seven of the top 10 largest US half-marathons were Rock 'n' Roll events in 2011, including the largest domestic 13.1 mile race: Zappos.com Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas (33,257 finishers). The largest half-marathon in the world in 2011 was in Göteborg, Sweeden with 42,904 finishers, an all-time record for an annual half-marathon.

In comparison, there were over a million more half-marathon finishers (1.6 Mil) than marathon finishers (518,000) in the United States in 2011.

Other interesting findings from the report:

Overall participation skewed 59%-41% female over male, exactly the opposite of the marathon distance
The average age of participants has gotten slightly younger each year, however median finishing times rose in 2011
Females aged 25-44 comprise 66% of the total female participation, while the same age range for men produces 59% - males 45-54 make-up 21% of the distribution compared to 16% for females
The OneAmerica 500 Festival featured the most sub-2 hour finishers (7,966; 26%), yet the NYC Half nearly doubled that on a percentage basis (5,038; 49%)
Of all Portland Half-Marathon finishers, 61% were master's runners (over 40 years of age), the highest rate in the US
2011 featured more than 30 inaugural US half-marathons, continuing the trend of the past five years

To read the whole report, visit Running USA.

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