As an extended road race family in the U.S. that was 7,746,000 strong in 2002, road racing is one of the rare sports that can accommodate a family with an active 12-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son, a mom and college-aged daughter who want to be fit and support a cause, a competitive dad, aunt and uncle who run for personal bests, a grandfather who's not that much slower than his sons and a grandmother who enjoys a leisurely stroll--all in the same event. In fact that group would be a good representation of the entire 5 km "family" of participants.

Road race demographics released by USA Track & Field's Road Running Information Center (USATF RRIC) mirror the overall population of the U.S., with a 50/50 split of men and women and participation from all age, ethnic and economic groups. There is a training group, fun run and competitive race for everyone, with road racing and training taking place everywhere from vacation resorts to inner-city communities.

Age, Sex and Median Times
The number of masters athletes (40 years and over) in road events has increased 55% over the past decade with the estimated number of finishers rising to 3,160,000 finishers in 2002 compared to 2,040,000 in 1993. Masters runners account for 41 percent of all finishers, down just 1 percent from 2000. The number of junior road racers (19 and under) has been increasing in the last few years and now accounts for 14.1% of all 5 km finishers and 8.5% of 10 km, up from 12% and 6% in 2000 respectively.

In distances where the masters percent has decreased - 10 km (43% in 2000, 41% in 2002), half-marathon (43% in 2000, 41% in 2002) and marathon (44% in 2000, 43% in 2002) - there has been a subsequent increase in female participants who tend to be a few years younger than their male counterparts. The average age (mean) for 2002 participants in 5 km to marathons varied from 34 to 36 for females and 36 to 40 for males with the longer distances producing the oldest fields in most instances. Ultra events from 50 km to 100 miles had average female and male ages of 41 and 43 respectively.

The road race population also has a higher percent of women than the "frequent runner" groups identified by ASD (44.6% females) and NSGA (44.2% females). The highest percentage of women occurs in the 5 km events (60.6%) while the lowest (36.6%) occurred in the 25 km distance. Lower still are the "ultra" distances of 100 km (24% women) and 50 miles (28%). Some of the largest women's fields were in 2002 marathons such as Portland (58%), Rock 'n' Roll (54.2%) and Disney (50.9%), possibly indicating that race size and atmosphere are stronger factors in female participation. The overall male to female ratio for race finishers in all distances has remained close to 50/50 for the last two years.

Getting back to the 5 km "family", an average age of 37 and a median time of 35:00 does not begin to describe the diverse 5 km race population. The following chart lists median times from the major age groups in all 2002 5 km results submitted to USATF:

2002 5K Participants

Category                    Median Time
=======================================
Males (mean age = 36)             28:16
5 to 19 yrs                       28:27
Open (20-39)                      27:24
Masters (40+)                     28:43



Females (mean age = 34.8)         42:52
5 to 19 yrs                       38:17
Open (20-39)                      37:45
Masters (40+)                     50:48

The range of times run by the males is much more narrow than the range of the female times. The women who are 40 and older are essentially walking, with an average time of 50 minutes and 48 seconds confirming that many 5 kms offer two events in one - a run and a walk. When the charity events such as Revlon Run for Women and Race for the Cure are taken out of the finisher pool, the times are considerably faster - especially for the women, as illustrated by the following:

2002 5K Participants (Without-Cause Events)

Category                      Median Time
=========================================
Males (mean age = 36.5)             26:42
5 to 19 yrs                         26:41
Open (20-39)                        25:58
Masters (40+)                       27:19



Females (mean age = 34.2)           33:45
5 to 19 yrs                         32:39
Open (20-39)                        32:14
Masters (40+)                       37:10

2002 Growth Spread Across Distances
The extended road race family in the U.S. was 7,746,000 strong in 2002. Runners continued to flock to 5 kms, a distance that accounted for 39% of the finishers and 49.7% of courses certified (599 out of 1205) by USATF in 2002. The second most popular distance was the 10 km, with 13.3% of the finishers and 13.9% of the courses certified last year. The distances showing the most growth for the same events received in both 2001 and 2002 were 1 miles (up 11%), 25 kms (up 10%), 15 kms (up 7%), half-marathons (up 5.4%) and marathons (up 5.3%). The following chart summarizes the 2002 total estimates provided by the USATF RRIC:

Estimated Total U.S. Road Race Finishers in 2002

Distance         Percentage    Finishers
========================================
5K               39.0%         3,021,000
10K              13.3%         1,029,000
8K/5 mi           7.8%           602,000
Marathon          5.8%           450,000
Half Marathon     6.7%           516,000
4 mi              2.4%           185,000
1 mi              5.7%           441,000
2-3 mi            1.6%           125,000
12K               1.5%           115,000
15K-30K           4.3%           333,000
Others           12.0%           929,000
TOTAL           100.0%         7,746,000

USATF would like to thank all race directors, timers and state record keepers who contributed to the collection of race results in 2002. For instructions on submitting 2003 electronic results for records, rankings and demographic purposes, please see the Results section of the www.usaldr.org Web site.

Read part one of this article, State of the Sport Report - Running Steady and Strong, and learn more about the demographic breakdown of running throughout the nation.