Top 100 Road Races 2018 Analysis

We have assembled the Top 100 Road Races in a consolidated list and will be maintaining this along with our RaceTrends Report and bi-annual Registration Market reports on a continuing basis. This helps us understand the market better, and we hope it helps others as well. Since this is our first time, we are sure we have some mistakes – so let us know! Just send an email to eric@runsignup.com to get in touch with Eric Cone, who works with the top races in the industry. You can also contact Eric for a spreadsheet with more data, including 2016 numbers.

The full list is at the bottom of this blog. We have some summary findings and summary lists based on this full list.

3% Decrease – If we exclude the top race, the Disney World Marathon Weekend due to the 2017 weather based 81% decline, the number of finishers fell 3%, or about 59,000 from a total of 1.7 Million. Including the Disney race, there was still a decline of 1.6%. You will see a fair amount of red numbers in the overall chart below.

In comparison, the RaceTrends report for 2018 showed races held on RunSignup in 2017 and 2018, where we have complete data, decreased 0.1% on a total population of 4.2 Million. We also see 6% of races over 500 people held in 2017 not being held in 2018.

Of the Top 100 using RunSignup, there were a number of success stories, such as the Philadelphia Marathon and The Great Pumpkin Run virtual race. There were also challenges, for example the California fires that lowered the number of participants in the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot this year.

In general, the data shows there is at least a flattening and most likely a general decline in road race participation. Races and industry vendors need to keep this in mind as they plan for the future – we are not riding an underlying wave of growth that we were in years past. On the positive side, we see lots of success stories and really amazing stories every day of personal goals being met by participants and great nonprofit organizations being helped in significant and powerful ways. We at RunSignup continue to feel happy and lucky we are a growing part of this wondering community.

Biggest Movers – A number of races had great moves up the ranking list in 2018. There are a variety of reasons for these successes, and we continue to highlight some of those success stories at our annual Symposium as well as on our Customer Success pages and blogs over time so others may learn.

2018 Rank	2017 Rank	Race	Location
59	Not ranked	The Great Pumpkin Run	Virtual
77	Not ranked	McGuire’s St. Patrick’s Day Prediction 5K Run	Pensacola, FL
78	Not ranked	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – San Francisco	San Francisco, CA
72	93	Air Force Marathon	Dayton, OH
73	94	NYRR Staten Island Half Marathon and 5K(dropped in 2017)	Staten Island, NY
56	71	Fargo Marathon	Fargo, ND
84	98	Spring Lake 5 Miler	Spring Lake, NJ
69	81	Austin Marathon & Half Marathon	Austin, TX
28	39	United Airlines NYC Half	New York, NY
54	65	Richmond Marathon, Half Marathon, and 8K	Richmond, VA
75	86	Falmouth Road Race	Falmouth, MA

Biggest Growth – Growth in % terms from 2017 was over 10% for the top 10 growth races.

Race	Location	Growth
The Great Pumpkin Run	Virtual	245%
McGuire’s St. Patrick’s Day Prediction 5K Run	Pensacola, FL	32%
Flying Pig Marathon	Cincinnati, OH	19%
Philadelphia Marathon, Half Marathon, and Rothman Institute 8K	Philadelphia, PA	16%
Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Chicago	Chicago, IL	16%
Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	13%
United Airlines NYC Half	New York, NY	13%
Air Force Marathon	Dayton, OH	11%
Hot Chocolate 15k/5k	Columbus, OH	11%

Missing Races – Again, Disney has a big impact here since DisneyLand in California did not have races in 2018 due to construction.

2017 Rank	Canceled Races	Location
24	Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend- The Light Side	Anaheim, CA
38	Tinker Bell Half Marathon and 10K	Anaheim, CA
50	Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend	Anaheim, CA
64	Avengers Half Marathon	Anaheim, CA
103	Rock ‘n’ Roll Brooklyn	Brooklyn, NY

New Races – This left room for some new races, and there is always some natural turnover or superstar races that rise rapidly. The creme of that list in 2018 was The Great Pumpkin Run’s virtual race.

2018 Rank	New Additions
59	The Great Pumpkin Run	Virtual
77	McGuire’s St. Patrick’s Day Prediction 5K Run	Pensacola, FL
78	Hot Chocolate 15k/5k – San Francisco	San Francisco, CA
91	Hot Chocolate 15k/5k – Columbus	Columbus, OH
95	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Scottsdale	Scottsdale, AZ
97	BAA 5k	Boston, MA

Registration Provider – Well, since this is how we make our money we need to track this :-). This stat changes relatively slowly, although there will be some changes next year as a number of races switched providers after their 2018 race. This chart shows the 2018 race stats. Active is still the largest. RunSignup, Haku and RaceRoster all have positive momentum over the past couple of years and continuing into 2019.

RAM Racing / Enmotive is doing well with the Hot Chocolate series as well as continuing to acquire timing businesses.  GetMeRegistered is now part of StackSports. Both Stack and Enmotive are taking an approach of doing timing and technology. It will be interesting to see how that progresses in the future, as RunSignup pursues a pure technology strategy and an open platform approach relative to timers.

Registration Platform	Top 100 Races for 2018
Active	17
RunSignUp	16
Custom	9
Enmotive/RAMRacing	9
Haku	8
imAthlete	7
GetMeRegistered	6
RaceRoster	6
Athlinks	5

 Top 100 Road Races in the US – Overall List

2018 Rank	2018 Finishers	Name	Location	2018 Jump Rank	2018 % Growth	Growth 17to18	Spot 2017
1	54,804	Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend	Lake Buena Vista, FL	10	81%	24,559	11
2	54,626	AJC Peachtree Roadrace 10K	Atlanta, GA	-1	-1%	-696	1
3	52700	TCS New York City Marathon	New York City, NY	-1	4%	2,059	2
4	44,580	Bolder Boulder	Boulder, CO	0	2%	668	4
5	44543	Bank of America Chicago Marathon	Chicago, IL	-2	0%	196	3
6	38,068	Lilac Bloomsday Run	Spokane, WA	-1	-3%	-1,275	5
7	36,726	Flying Pig Marathon	Cincinnati, OH	3	19%	5,943	10
8	36,222	Blue Cross Broad Street Run	Philadelphia, PA	-2	-2%	-736	6
9	33,185	Disney’s Princess Half Marathon	Orlando, FL	-1	2%	628	8
10	30548	Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas	Las Vegas, NV	-3	-10%	-3,345	7
11	29653	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Chicago	Chicago, IL	9	16%	4,036	20
12	27,450	Cooper River Bridge Run	Charleston, SC	-3	-16%	-5,080	9
13	27145	Marine Corps Marathon	Washington, DC	1	0%	-136	14
14	26793	Honolulu Marathon	Honolulu, HI	4	2%	622	18
15	26,682	Gasparilla Distance Classic Race Weekend	Tampa, FL	0	-2%	-450	15
16	26,329	Star Wars – The Dark Side Weekend	Orlando, FL	-4	-6%	-1,632	12
17	25,831	Boston Marathon	Boston, MA	0	-2%	-569	17
18	25,378	Brooklyn Half Marathon	Brooklyn, NY	-5	-8%	-2,067	13
19	24845	Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend	Orlando, FL	3	1%	189	22
20	24808	Army Ten Miler	Washington, DC	-1	-4%	-980	19
21	24,572	Bay to Breakers	San Francisco, CA	-5	-8%	-2,154	16
22	23,857	Oneamerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon	Indianapolis, IN	5	5%	1,164	27
23	23,784	12th Annual Pat’s Run	Tempe, AZ	2	0%	37	25
24	23572	Philadelphia Marathon, Half Marathon, and Rothman Institute 8K	Philadelphia, PA	9	16%	3,209	33
25	23,283	Los Angeles Marathon	Los Angeles, CA	3	3%	779	28
26	23,176	Chevron Houston Marathon / Aramco Half Marathon / ABB 5K	Houston, TX	0	0%	7	26
27	22923	Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon & Medtronic TC 10 Mile	Minneapolis, MN	2	4%	778	29
28	21,957	United Airlines NYC Half	New York, NY	11	13%	2,576	39
29	21,304	Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K	Richmond, VA	1	-3%	-661	30
30	21,283	San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon	San Diego, CA	-9	-14%	-3,541	21
31	21,135	Pittsburgh Marathon	Pittsburgh, PA	1	3%	626	32
32	20,892	Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle	Chicago, IL	2	4%	895	34
33	20,828	St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville	Nashille, TN	-10	-14%	-3,277	23
34	19406	St. Jude Memphis Marathon	Memphis, TN	2	-2%	-417	36
35	19,188	Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile	Washington, DC	0	-4%	-773	35
36	18,906	Lifetime Miami Marathon, Half Marathon & Tropical 5k	Miami, FL	4	-2%	-321	40
37	18,751	Statesman Capitol 10K	Austin, TX	10	9%	1,625	47
38	18639	Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon and Half-Marathon	San Antonio, TX	10	9%	1,583	48
39	18,116	Yuengling Shamrock Marathon, Half Marathon, and 8K	Virginia Beach, VA	6	-1%	-202	45
40	17752	Baltimore Running Festival	Baltimore, MD	4	-4%	-692	44
41	17,621	San Francisco Marathon	San Francisco, CA	-10	-16%	-3,442	31
42	17568	Detroit Free Press/Talmer Bank Marathon	Detroit, MI	0	-8%	-1,551	42
43	16749	Across the Bay 10K	Annapolis, MD	-2	-12%	-2,384	41
44	15,908	Arizona Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon	Phoenix, AZ	2	-11%	-2,015	46
45	15878	Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot	San Jose, CA	-2	-15%	-2,800	43
46	15,752	Utica Boilermaker Road Race	Utica, NY	8	0%	-79	54
47	15,483	Grandma’s Marathon – Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon	Duluth, MN	10	-1%	-147	57
48	15,399	Shamrock Run	Portland, OR	4	-5%	-882	52
49	15,162	Oklahoma City Marathon	Oklahoma City, OK	9	-1%	-181	59
50	15031	Drumstick Dash	Indianapolis, IN	9	-1%	-211	60
51	14992	Indianapolis Monumental Marathon	Indianapolis, IN	6	-2%	-384	58
52	14,874	Cowtown Marathon	Fort Worth, TX	-16	-23%	-4,565	37
53	14545	Richmond Marathon, Half Marathon, and 8K	Richmond, VA	11	-1%	-205	65
54	14,113	Gate River Run	Jacksonville, FL	1	-10%	-1,526	56
55	13,981	Fargo Marathon	Fargo, ND	15	6%	803	71
56	13,791	Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Marathon	Washington, DC	-8	-19%	-3,180	49
57	13,729	Crescent City Classic	New Orleans, LA	-3	-13%	-2,053	55
58	13453	The Great Pumpkin Run	Virtual	55	245%	9,548	unranked
59	13,418	Santa Cruz to Capitola Wharf to Wharf Race	Santa Cruz, CA	9	-1%	-152	69
60	13408	Detroit Thanksgiving Parade Turkey Trot	Detroit, MI	-10	-18%	-2,936	51
61	13,360	Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon & 1/2 Marathon	New Orleans, LA	-9	-16%	-2,516	53
62	13,224	Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon	Chicago, IL	-2	-12%	-1,767	61
63	13076	The Ohio State 4 Miler	Columbus, OH	4	-7%	-959	68
64	12,618	Surf City USA Marathon and Half Marathon	Huntington Beach, CA	12	6%	776	76
65	12597	New Balance Bronx	New York, NY	-3	-16%	-2,392	62
66	12335	Columbus Marathon	Columbus, OH	7	-4%	-501	73
67	12,107	Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle	Seattle, WA	-4	-18%	-2,692	63
68	11,796	Great Aloha Run	Honolulu, HI	2	-11%	-1,467	70
69	11,669	Austin Marathon & Half Marathon	Austin, TX	12	2%	177	81
70	11654	The Giant Race	San Francisco, CA	-4	-17%	-2,444	66
71	11,598	Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon and Half Marathon	Champaign, IL	-4	-17%	-2,442	67
72	11590	Air Force Marathon	Dayton, OH	21	11%	1,170	93
73	11477	NYRR Staten Island Half Marathon and 5K(dropped in 2017)	Staten Island, NY	21	11%	1,113	94
74	11,446	NYRR Five-Borough Series: Queens 10K	Queens, NY	8	0%	1	82
75	11063	Falmouth Road Race	Falmouth, MA	11	1%	162	86
76	11057	Buffalo YMCA TURKEY TROT 8 KILOMETER RACE	Buffalo, NY	-2	-11%	-1,354	74
77	10967	McGuire’s St. Patrick’s Day Prediction 5K Run	Pensacola, FL	34	32%	2,683	unranked
78	10,870	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	23	13%	1,288	unranked
79	10,868	Fifth Third River Bank Run	Grand Rapids, MI	-7	-16%	-2,126	72
80	10,707	OC Marathon	New Port Beach, CA	7	-1%	-106	87
81	10335	BMW Dallas Marathon	Dallas, TX	-2	-12%	-1,427	79
82	10323	Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon	Long Beach, CA	-4	-12%	-1,459	78
83	10303	City of Pittsburgh Great Race	Pittsburgh, PA	-6	-13%	-1,556	77
84	10270	Spring Lake 5 Miler	Spring Lake, NJ	14	1%	89	98
85	10238	Thanksgiving Day Race	Cincinnati, OH	0	-8%	-863	85
86	9,978	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Dallas	Dallas, TX	6	-6%	-619	92
87	9,753	Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon	Louisville, KY	9	-6%	-573	96
88	9687	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Seattle	Seattle, WA	3	-9%	-914	91
89	9,359	Bellin Run	Green Bay, WI	1	-12%	-1,285	90
90	9244	Manchester Road Race	Manchester, CT	-7	-18%	-2,038	83
91	9039	Hot Chocolate 15k/5k	Columbus, OH	21	11%	886	unranked
92	9037	San Jose Rock n Roll	San Jose, CA	-4	-15%	-1,655	88
93	8934	Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah Marathon & 1/2 Marathon	Savannah, GA	-13	-24%	-2,781	80
94	8908	Crim Festival of Races	Flint, MI	-5	-17%	-1,774	89
95	8748	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Scottsdale	Scottsdale, AZ	11	2%	190	unranked
96	8712	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – San Diego	San Diego, CA	4	-10%	-1,019	100
97	8670	BAA 5k	Boston, MA	7	-3%	-253	unranked
98	8,664	Lincoln Marathon & Half Marathon	Lincoln, NE	1	-15%	-1,510	99
99	8522	Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon	Philadelphia, PA	-15	-24%	-2,705	84
100	8436	Hot Chocolate 15K/5K – Philly	Philadelphia, PA	-5	-18%	-1,896	95