Racing Back Survey

In partnership with Women's Running Magazine, we asked our audiences how they felt about taking part in mass participation sports events right now. Over 2,500 people replied and here's what they had to say...

Overall, 60% of runners felt confident about booking a race entry right now.

Only 10% said they did not feel they wanted to race at all in the current climate. Of those that wanted to race, 56% of runners would like to start racing again in the next 3 months and just over 70% in the next 6 months.

Embracing the new normal.

In terms of how runners feel about the new requirements for events, 70% were content to run without spectators, 73% were happy to bring their own food and water. Interestingly, 65% said the absence of a bag-drop was something that would affect their decision to enter.

Middle distance events are still the most popular. 76% of respondents said they were most interested in taking part in a 10k. 70% said Half Marathon and 42% chose 5k. There was also significant interest in triathlons and trail runs.

Race day expectations.

To the question of what runners would want to see on race day, 89% expect to see hand sanitising stations available. A further 74% would want to see social distance markings in place. Only 20% are keen on mandatory face masks. It's apparent that clear and obvious safety measures are key in runners decision making in booking races.

Events under 1,000 the most popular.

Respondents were asked what size event they were most interested in taking part in. Whilst 28% were keen to do smaller events with fields of 500 or less, over half were happy to do an event of more than 500, with 20% happy to take part in an event of more than 10,000 participants.

For more information on any of the above, or access to the full survey, please email [email protected]