Road race popularity still surging

This fall marathon season has been a testament to the growing success of road racing. All across Canada, and other major races around the world, participants are showing up in record numbers. As sport participation in general decreases in popularity across Canada, the numbers signing up for races continues to climb.

This weekend the Victoria Marathon had the highest registration numbers in the event’s 34-year history. 11,768 runners signed up to run an event, with the half-marathon having the largest turnout at 5,471 entries. Of the nearly 12,000 runners, 10,263 finished.

Also this weekend, the Chicago Marathon also followed the trend of other large marathons around the world by selling out almost immediately. The race filled up in March after experiencing unprecedented numbers attempting to sign up online. The servers crashed, forcing the race directors to offer a lottery for those interested in filling the remaining 15,000 entry spots. By contrast, the 2011 Chicago Marathon sold out in a record 31 days and the 2012 race sold out in six days. There were 40,230 runners who started the race on Sunday.

These races are not anomalies. September’s Berlin Marathon sold all 40,000 entries in under four hours last spring and have switched to a lottery system for future registrations. Early reports indicate that the 2014 lottery nearly 75,000 entrants. November’s New York City Marathon, which went with a lottery system years ago due to overwhelming demand, easily sold out the 45,000 entries, even after being cancelled last year as a result of hurricane Sandy.

The Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday will break record participant numbers and is nearly sold out.

It’s a good time to be a runner, but you’ve got to be on the ball when it comes to registering for a marathon.