Thousands of active, affluent customers participate in running events each week and your brand is integral to a positive experience.

Event sponsorships help to:

• Enhance your brand image

• Increase sales/market share

• Increase web and retail traffic

• Generate social media buzz

  

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS:

• College-educated: Today’s core runners are highly educated with 79% having earned a college diploma, compared with only 27% of the United States population (ACS, 2006-08).

• Affluent: These runners are affluent with 73% of those surveyed reporting a Household Income of more than $75,000, well above the U.S. median household income of $52,175 (ACS, 2006-08).

• Active Participants: Core runners are active participants who train year round, reporting running/jogging an average of 224 days and logging 1,357 miles per year, a significant difference compared with the typical fitness runner/jogger who runs approximately 85 days per year (SGMA, 2009).

• Running Shoes: The average respondent purchased 3.2 pairs of running shoes in the last year contributing to the 2.31 billion in jogging/running footwear sales reported by the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA).

• Race Distance: The favorite race distance continues to be the half-marathon reflecting why the half-marathon has been the fastest growing distance in the U.S. since 2003 and why for four consecutive years (2006-09) the 13.1 mile distance has grown by 10% or more in this country, according to Running USA.

The National Runner Survey is distributed electronically to event participants, club members, specialty shoe store visitors, members of USA Track & Field, subscribers to running publications, and those who frequent the online running community. Running USA worked closely with more than 35 organizations to help distribute the online survey to various constituency groups between the months of August through December of 2009. A total of 11,264 runners nationwide (53% female, 47% male) responded to the survey with an 86% rate of completion. Select results from the 2009 study are presented below.

The following female and male runner snapshots represent “core runners”, that is, active adult participants who tend to enter running events, train year-round, and purchase 2-4 running shoes each year.

 

Typical U.S. Female Runner	Typical U.S. Male Runner
Demographics
Average Age: 38.6 61.9% Married 78.7% College educated 69.0% Earn a household income of $75,000+	Average Age: 44.8 73.5% Married 78.8% College educated 76.4% Earn a household income of $75,000+
Running History
Average number of years running: 11 years verage number of running events participated in during the last 12 months: 7 events 53.9% have completed 1 marathon or more in their lifetime	Average number of years running: 16 years Average number of running events participated in during the last 12 months: 9 events 67.9% have completed 1 marathon or more in their lifetime
Running Routine
74.7% Run/Jog 4+ hours each week 80.1% run 12 months a year Average number of days run per week: 4.1 Average number of miles run per week: 23 64.8% describe themselves as Frequent/Fitness Runners	79.2% Run/Jog 4+ hours each week 8 2.5% run 12 months a year Average number of days run per week: 4.5 Average number of miles run per week: 29.5 55.8% describe themselves as Frequent/Fitness Runners’ and 32.7% as “Serious Competitive Runners’
Running Preferences