2025 Trends Report

Each year, we analyse our own data alongside wider market insights to understand how the racing landscape is evolving and what it means for everyone working in the sport.

In 2025, findarace saw record growth: bookings increased by 53%, conversion rates rose by 22%, and searches for races climbed by 20%. Following a strong 2024, 2025 was the year the running boom truly arrived—and all signs suggest it's here to stay.

Below, we dive into the numbers, starting with interest at the top of the funnel.

Interest in racing

As in previous years, we track interest in racing by looking at the volume of searches for more than 10,000 race-specific terms such as “half marathons near me” and “10ks in Manchester”. The terms tracked remain consistent year on year to give an accurate picture of changes in demand over time.

The data in the chart is indexed and shows search demand relative to 2019.

After a sharp increase in 2024, interest in racing continued to grow in 2025. Search demand rose again year-on-year, reaching its highest level to date and moving further beyond pre-pandemic levels.

Which races are most popular?

Here we look to see if the types of races being booked have changed.

Compared to 2024, the race types booked in 2025 remained largely unchanged. Half marathons and 10Ks continue to dominate on findarace, together accounting for more than 80% of bookings.

The increase in 5K participation seen in 2024 did not reverse in 2025, with 5Ks holding a similar share of bookings YoY. This suggests that the return of more casual and social runners seen last year has stabilised or perhaps those runners are moving on to harder challenges.

Marathon bookings increased slightly compared to 2024 but remain a small proportion of overall demand. Triathlon participation continued its gradual decline and now represents a smaller share of bookings than in previous years.

When do racers sign up?

A look at whether we've seen changes in when people book.

2025

The trend for later bookings continued last year across all events with race-week entries rising again. At the same time, bookings made more than three months before race day have declined slightly compared to 2024. Despite many RO's working hard to incentivise early bookings late bookings looks to be the new normal.

Encouragingly, bookings made 7–30 days out increased in 2025, partially reversing the downward trend seen in previous years. Overall, the majority of entries continue to be made within three months of race day. Lining up marketing campaigns with these peak booking periods is key to strong performance.

Diving deeper we can see different behaviours based on the type of race. Below are the booking trends for some of the most popular races.

10 km

Half Marathon

Marathon

Unsurprisingly the shorter the race the later the booking. 10K events continue to attract a high proportion of late bookings with race-week bookings increasing again in 2025.

Half marathon and Marathon entrants continue to commit earlier than those entering shorter races. Even so, over half of marathon entries on findarace are in the final 3 months leading up to race day.

Entrant demographics

This section looks at the gender and age of entrants.

In 2025, the age of entrants continued to skew younger, reinforcing a trend that has been building over several years. The proportion of bookings from those aged 18–24 increased again, while the 25–34 age group remained the largest single group of entrants.

At the same time, participation from older age groups has remained broadly stable. The share of bookings from those aged 45–54 and 55+ changed very little compared to 2024, suggesting that recent growth has been driven primarily by younger runners taking up running rather than older runners dropping out of the market.

The change since 2019 is significant. Younger runners now account for a much larger share of bookings than pre-pandemic. The appeal of fitness and running to Gen Z and below is played out in our findings.

Entries by gender

This section looks at the gender breakdown of people booking races through findarace, both overall and by race distance.

2025

In 2025, the overall gender split of entrants was close to even. This reflects a continuing increase in female participation we've seen in the last 3 years.

Looking by distance, differences remain depending on the type of race.

Shorter-distance events continue to see a higher proportion of female entrants, with women making up the majority of bookings on findarace for races 10k and below. Longer-distance events attract a higher proportion of male entrants, indicating that gender balance varies significantly depending on the type of race.

Participation from Open and Non-binary entrants remains small overall, but is present across both shorter and longer events.

Are prices increasing?

The average entry price of races across a range of event types.

As expected In 2025, average entry prices increased again across all race distances. Price rises were most pronounced for longer-distance events, with Marathon and Triathlon entries seeing the largest year-on-year increases.

All race distances saw price increases above inflation but the mass participation sector remains behind other industries in regards to price rises. The boom in running and racing makes it clear that entrants are not as price sensitive as many fear.

Looking ahead

Overall, our data from 2025 shows the mass participation market in a very strong position. Interest continues to grow with core runners continuing to turn up and new, younger racers driving demand. For Race Organisers, later bookings and the struggles that can bring look to be the new normal but the opportunity is as big as ever to grow events and capitalise on the new wave of casual runners as they make the move to racing.

We'll be sharing more of our insights throughout the year. If there are any areas you would like us to explore in more detail or if you have any questions; get in touch - [email protected]