2024 Global Runner Survey

Running USA’s annual Global Runner Survey has always been an important gauge of runner attitudes and trends for the endurance events industry. And in 2024, following some key content additions, the report is more valuable than ever.

So, how can you leverage runners’ fitness and social habits to increase the reach of your event? What is it that runners really value in a race? And how can you remove obstacles holding back your race’s growth from its full potential?

That’s what we’re discussing today, alongside a plethora of interesting data points from the 2024 Global Runner Survey with the help of my guest, Running USA Director of Operations, Michael Clemons. Michael - soon to be Dr.Clemons PhD - is an endurance events man through and through, having held various roles in the industry in a career spanning over a decade, and in his latest role at Running USA has been responsible not only for Running USA’s marquee industry conference, but also all pieces or Running USA research, including the Global Runner Survey. 

And with Michael's help we’ll navigate the most important findings of the report, tracking annual trends in runner habits and preferences as they evolve over time, as well as trying to make sense of what the numbers mean for your race, in terms of concrete, actionable takeaways. 

In this episode:

• The Global Runner Survey: what it is and how it is compiled
• Demographics of survey respondents: age, gender, income, ethnicity
• What increased inclusion means for running events
• Making group runs part of the event lifecycle
• Promoting your race where runners are: gyms, fitness centers, race expos
• The growth of recreational running vs competitive running
• Runners' top criteria for choosing what race to enter
• What runners value in a race: swag, water stations, hygiene facilities
• Runner's entry fee expectations
• How far runners will travel for 5Ks, marathons, ultras
• The importance of solid pre- and post-race communications
• Income-based entry fees and other ways to broaden race participation
• Understanding runner sub-segments with the help of runner personas

Many thanks to our podcast sponsors, RunSignup and Brooksee, for supporting our efforts to provide great, free content to the race director community:

RunSignup are the leading all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events. More than 28,000 events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. Find out more at https://runsignup.com/.

Brooksee are the timing technology industry-leader, bringing affordable real-time tracking and timing checkpoints to races with their patented iPhone-sized micro checkpoints. Find out more and get 50% off your timing for your next event at https://www.brooksee.com/headstart.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about liability waivers or anything else in our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/racedirectorshq/ 

Transcript

Panos: 0:07

Hi! Welcome to Head Start, the podcast for race directors and the business of putting on races. Running USA's annual Global Runner Survey has always been an important gauge of runner attitudes and trends for the endurance events industry. And in 2024, following some key content additions, the report is more valuable than ever. So, how do you leverage runners' fitness and social habits to increase the reach of your event? What is it that runners really value in a race? And how can you remove obstacles holding back your race's growth from its full potential? Well, that's what we're discussing today, alongside a plethora of interesting data points from the 2024 Global Runner Survey with the help of my guest, Running USA Director of Operations, Michael Clemons. Michael - soon to be Dr Clemons, PhD - is an endurance events man through and through, having held various roles in the industry in a career spanning over a decade, and in his latest role at Running USA has been responsible not only for Running USA's marquee industry conference, but also all pieces of Running USA research, including the Global Runner Survey. And with his help, we'll navigate the most important findings of the report, tracking annual trends in runner habits and preferences as they evolve over time, as well as trying to make sense of what the numbers mean for your race, in terms of concrete, actionable takeaways. And before we get into this great discussion, I'd like to give a quick shout out to the amazing sponsors supporting this podcast. Many thanks to RunSignup, race directors' favorite all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events, now powering more than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. And many thanks to Brooksee, the timing technology industry-leader, bringing affordable real-time tracking and timing checkpoints to races with their patented micro checkpoints. Two great companies we'll be hearing a bit more from later in the podcast. But, now, let's dive into our discussion on the 2024 Global Runner Survey with Michael Clemons. Michael, welcome to the podcast!

Michael: 2:21

Hello. Happy to be here.

Panos: 2:23

Well, thank you very much for making the time to join me today. Where does the podcast find you?

Michael: 2:28

So I am based in Louisville, Kentucky. Grew up here, born and raised here. It's been a great home base for me. So I am working from home, from my house in Kentucky.

Panos: 2:39

Awesome. And you are the Director of Operations at Running USA, fairly recently christened, I guess, Director of Operations. Is that right?

Michael: 2:50

Yes, I took the position full time back in December of 2023

Panos: 2:54

Okay. And actually, the CEO of Running USA also sort of took the helm at around that time, didn't they?

Michael: 3:02

Yes. Jay Holder, our new Executive Director, started actually a week before me, so I was his first order of business. When he took over as Executive Director, was hiring me full time as the Director of Operations. So we both started right-- he was right after Thanksgiving. I was right in early December.

Panos: 3:23

Okay, so not even a year in the role then.

Michael: 3:25

No. Yeah, we are coming up on a year. We've accomplished a lot in the last year, though, so it feels like we've been doing it for a lot longer, and we've both been in the industry for a long time, so it's been a quick transition into our new roles with Running USA.

Panos: 3:41

You mentioned you went into the role full time. Either you or Jay, were you involved with running USA before, I guess, beyond just being members of the organization?

Michael: 3:49

Yes. So I've been a member of Running USA in the past and was actually on the board of directors of Running USA, was elected or nominated to be on the board in 2023. And then when the Director of Operations role came open, I kind of offered up my services just to support the conference to make sure that everything moved forward in a contracted role, just when the director of operations left to make sure kind of things didn't kind of lose focus or lose steam, and then came on full time once Jay was hired full time.

Panos: 4:28

Great. I mean, I have to say, as an outsider, there seems to be a lot of energy since you guys came on board over the last year, and lots of new initiatives, which is great. For the people listening in, I guess, particularly non US users- because a lot of lot of folks in the US are familiar with your work - can you tell our listeners a little bit about Running USA, the role you play in the industry, and then maybe a little bit about your role specifically as Director of Operations there?

Michael: 4:55

For sure. So Running USA has been around for over 30 years. We are a nonprofit B2B or trade organization. So we have about 275 member organizations that range from event operations organizations to vendors that work within the running space. And as Running USA, we see ourselves as a resource and as a guide for the industry to support our members and whatever they're doing with their events all year round. So that includes putting on an annual conference that we do every February here in the US. But also my role as director of operations is, year round, to make sure that we're being an industry leader. That includes putting on monthly webinars. That includes a lot of research reports that we put out, and just making sure that we're supporting our industry. And part of that is, for our international listeners, we just created a partnership with European Athletics and with Running Industry Alliance, and also are working with Mass Participation World to make sure that our industry worldwide is on the same page. So we're supporting each other on an international level, but us here at Running USA are very focused on growing nationally our sport and making sure that it is as inclusive and as supportive as possible.

Panos: 6:29

Lots of that falls on your shoulders, right? From the conference to lots of the educational stuff to the survey we'll be discussing today.

Michael: 6:37

It does. We are a small team. There are four of us that are on the Running USA staff. We're small but mighty. We do a lot, and I think we see that a lot in the running spaces. Those other duties are assigned. The list kind of continues to grow and grow. And I've been working in the running space for the last 12 years, so it's definitely something I'm familiar with doing a lot, and it excites me to have my hand in a lot of different opportunities because along with working in the space, I'm a runner myself, I'm currently training for marathon number 21, consider running just my my favorite pastime. So I have a love for our sport and want to do what I can to see it grow, whether that's planning a conference, whether that's supporting races. Part of our role in Running USA is supporting our members. And Jay and I are fortunate enough to be involved in operations for a lot of the races. So man, I manage the finish line of the Chicago Marathon. Jay and I will both be in New York working the New York City Marathon. We get to travel a lot and support our member organization. So it is a lot but we do it because we love it, and we do it to see our industry grow and to see our events really thrive.

Panos: 8:01

Specifically, you're still in the trenches, right? I think you're heading out to Chicago soon, and I think I saw on your LinkedIn that you've been involved with that event, probably others as well.

Michael: 8:10

Yeah. So I've been working with Chicago Event Management, who puts on the Bank of America Chicago marathon, and Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle, and third now the new Bank of America Chicago 13.1. I've been working with them since 2016 and their team has been great about really bringing in industry leaders to support their races, and I've worked my way up to now. This will be my third year managing the finish line of the Chicago Marathon, and it's always a great experience. And I have a great team around me there, but have been fortunate enough to work in various roles with the Los Angeles marathon, Houston Marathon, New York City Marathon, was able to work the World Championships when they were here in the US for Oregon 22. It is a small industry, and we support each other. So it's been something I've really loved to do, is just to be able to travel around and work other events and support other events, see how they're doing it, bring a new outside perspective to these organizations to help move them forward.

Panos: 9:18

I'm feeling that the conference side of things must have felt quite natural to you with your operations background, all these other things, parts of which we'll be discussing today- the educational stuff, the data side, the surveys. How did that work out for you being involved in these surveys?

Michael: 9:34

As I said, I like to keep myself busy. I like to do a lot, and as part of that, I am in the final stages of a PhD program at the University of Louisville. So I started in 2021 along with doing event management work. I just have a passion for working with the younger generation and bringing in new people into our industry, and part of that is teaching and education. So I went back to the University of Louisville to get my PhD in educational leadership focused on sport management. So along with working races, I have had the opportunity to be in the classroom teaching sport marketing, sport communication, doing a lot of research on our industry. So I'm a data guy too, and that really fits into this role at Running USA so perfectly where I get to see the industry kind of as my students, and get to support their learning and their growth through monthly webinars, through all of this data and research, and it really goes hand in hand with what I'm doing through my PhD. Hopefully, I'm in all but dissertation process, so we'll hopefully be finished with that by the end of this coming school year, and be able to contribute to a lot of the data and research of our industry, so that we're not looking at trends and saying,"Well, it kind of seems that way, or this is the way it's always been," but let's actually put some data behind what we're doing and actually give people the data that they need to make appropriate decisions.

Panos: 11:15

Indeed. Yeah. That's sorely lacking in the industry. RunSignup does quite a lot on that with the huge data troll they have. You guys do. But it's interesting because when I came into the industry, which is going into maybe 10 years now, getting my hands on solid data was a really big challenge. I know lots of people who, in different capacities, want to go into mass participation sports, either on the race director end or the vendor end or the services end, or whatever, and they're really after some really basic stuff like how many events total, how many average - like, really, really basic stuff. And until recently, it was almost entirely absent. And even now, it's a little bit challenging putting two and two together. So every bit of data we can get out of you guys, RunSignup and others is very much appreciated.

Michael: 12:11

Yes, RunSignup, what they do is great, but they're only one organization. So it's tough because there are so many registration platforms, so many timers out there. To really be a conglomerate is something that we at Running USA want to try our best to do and to lead for the industry. So it is, "How can we find all of this data and compile it so that it's usable for the industry?" Because it's not helpful if the data-- yeah, it's out there, but let's put it all in one place, and let's show people, like, what does this data actually mean, and how can you make use of it? So it is a challenge. I think we've seen our industry as much more supportive than a lot where we're not necessarily holding things close to the chest where we're not going to share it with others. And I think that's a really big strength of our industry. And Jay and I and our team at Running USA are big on how can we bring all that data in and then distribute it in the most user friendly way possible.

Panos: 13:20

Yeah, and I think that's actually the ultimate challenge, and we'll go through some of the data and the questions being posed in the survey. It's really challenging. And it's an interesting point because I did a whole podcast on post race surveys with Laurel Park a while back. Asking the right questions is actually more than half of the job, really, in these kinds of surveys because you're going to get back the data-- the question is, what questions do you ask? So going into the survey, this is the 2024 Global Runner Survey. We're talking about here. Listeners may remember we did an episode with Christine Bowen a couple of years back, in fact, on the 2022 Global Runner Survey. Tell us a little bit about the survey - sort of the scope of it, the aim of it, maybe any significant changes in either methodology or outcomes from previous surveys. What is it trying to do?

Michael: 14:13

Yeah. So the Global Runner Survey in some form has been around for a while. It was started by Running USA in 2007 and it's essentially trying to look at who are our runners, and what do they want, and what are their brand preferences, what are their racing and running preferences, and how can the industry, and then use that. With new leadership at Running USA, we really looked at what was being asked in the survey. Like you said, you need to ask the right questions to make sure you're getting the right information. So we took a really deep dive back in April and May to see what questions are we asking in the Global Runner Survey to make sure that we were getting year over year comparisons, but also asking the right questions to evolve the industry. And we've seen new areas of the industry. We've seen things shift and evolve. So how are we asking about those evolutions and how are we supporting the races that are trying to work within those evolutions? So our big challenge-- before we actually put out the Global Runner Survey, and then, starting in June and July, we distributed it to all of our members, asking,"Hey, can you send this out to your member databases? Can you support us in supporting you so that we can get data from your runners to know how they feel about it?" And really wanted to make sure that we kept the survey below a 15-minute response time so that we can alleviate some of that survey fatigue, or people answering a few questions and then leaving. And we're fortunate enough to have over 7,000 survey responses. Our goal was around 10,000 so we were short of that goal, and we've already started thinking through ways to bump that number up to get over that 10,000 mark in 2025, but we're really happy with the 7,400-plus responses that we received to really understand who our runners were, their demographics, their psychographics, their spending habits and all that. And so that's kind of what this Global Runner Survey looks to do. And now, our questioning, we really were intentional with it to where now, in 2025, we'll be able to ask a lot of these same questions to get year over year comparisons a lot better. And we have some of those for 2023 but we'll continue to see those comparisons being important as we look into 2025

Panos: 17:01

Now, going into drilling a little bit into the demographics of the people who responded to the survey. It's fair to say, I guess, that the demographic is fairly US focused in terms of the people who responded, right?

Michael: 17:15

It is, and that's something that we also are looking at for the future. I think our partnerships with European Athletics, with Running Industry Alliance, with Mass Participation World are definitely going to help us to grow this internationally. But at some point we can't be everything to everybody, so it's something we think about. Running USA is-- first and foremost, we have to look at US runners, and we're going to continue to grow it internationally, but always wanting to focus US first and then continue to grow it internationally. And I think we'll see, while cultures are different and while locations are different, there are a lot of similarities between runners in different cultures and different markets. So I think while the responses are heavily US based, there's going to be some takeaways that are going to be impactful for people outside of the US as well.

Panos: 18:17

So in terms of the actual demographics, then, looking at gender, age, income, I mean, to me, it looks like our customers are a fairly affluent bunch, just judging by the average incomes involved here. Do you have a sense for how the runner demographic compares to the broader US people kind of demographic?

Michael: 18:43

Yeah. So if you look at the runner demographic, it is higher female. For survey respondents, 56% identified as a woman, 38% as man. We had 6% of just other genders as well, which I think is important to note that we're looking beyond those binaries. But when you look at the average education levels, at the household income levels, they are at a higher average than the general US population. So like you said, we do see a little more fluency with our running base and that can be viewed two ways. That can be viewed, yes, maybe we can charge more for them. But also, are we missing out on opportunities of reaching people from some of these lower socio economic statuses? Should we be doing more to bring those people in, to be more in line with the US base, so that we're supporting everybody? So I think it shows us both those things, that, yes, it's a more fluent base, which could have its benefits, but also, does that mean we're not reaching everybody and need to be doing more for more people within our cities and within our communities.

Panos: 20:07

Yeah, that's an interesting point. I guess running is no golf in terms of, I guess, elitism. Although Golf has gone everywhere these days, it's no longer something that only upper middle class people do or whatever. But it is indeed interesting to see if there's an opportunity for Running to attract people across a broader base, but as you say, higher income for the demographic we currently have, good for sponsors, good for business, all kinds of opportunities present themselves.

Michael: 20:40

Yes, definitely. And I think we also see, when we looked at the race and ethnicity piece in this Global Runner Survey, that our respondents were higher percentage of white respondents. So I think there's an opportunity for us to be reaching other races and ethnicities and to support people that way as well. I think that's something we are big on at Running USA. Like you said, we're not golf, but it's not the common thing of, "All you need is a pair of shoes to run." While that's partly true, that also comes from a place of privilege where there are some people that don't feel safe being out there running alone, or don't have the health background to be able to go out there and run. So there's a lot more to it that I think we need to be addressing within our industry.

Panos: 21:31

Yeah, that's another interesting point because I did a podcast with Sophie Power who is an advocate for increasing women participation in ultra marathons. And one of the points she highlighted for me then which I think actually is an interesting one, is that-- I mean, whether people can put on a pair of shoes and go out and run is one thing, which probably they can do, but I think getting themselves to a start line of a race, I think probably races could, perhaps-- I don't know the numbers, but there could be a case there for races to try and make these people feel a little bit more welcomed in racing, which means also having people like them on the start line. It's a kind of cause and that kind of effect.

Michael: 22:20

It is. There's kind of a snowball effect there too. You start getting them in, and it gets more in, and it gets more in, and we see organizations that are doing that well. And I think this Global Runner Survey is a piece of that for us to see where our blind spots are or where our runners are saying. This is what's getting them to the start line or this is what they want to see organizations do to support more inclusion within the running space. So, this Global Runner Survey piece is definitely part of how can we drive that welcome this and that welcoming within our space.

Panos: 22:58

Because inclusion-- I mean, let's remind ourselves because it's a little bit of a charged word, and the way the world has gone these days, these things can wrap people the wrong way. But inclusion, the bottom line of it is, it's more people on the start line, right? It's basically growing the pie. It's getting more runners-- particularly for an industry like ours, which is going in and out of plateauing and growth is a little bit sideways. It is important for the sports to grow, getting the people who don't run to start running.

Michael: 23:29

It is. There's a financial piece to that too. If you get more people to start line, you get more registration dollars. You get more sponsorship money. And I think we see this in the Global Runner Survey too of the younger demographic is smaller than it probably should be when we look at the running space of how can we attract younger runners into. And part of that is just the younger generations where we see one in five identify as LGBTQ+. Are we doing efforts for that to bring in those younger runners? And it's not by bringing them in, you're going to lose other people. We're all growing from this, and that's important to remember.

Panos: 24:14

Exactly. So I watched the Running USA webinar on the survey. I'm really keen on your very actionable tips on the back of the percentages because we can quote statistics all day, but it's actually what do you do with them? So let's dig into some numbers here. Running habits is a big part of the survey and a really important one. One of the numbers that struck me is that a quarter of people out there, they run sort of socially. They run with other people. They do group runs. They're probably part of running clubs. I know that race directors, lots of them, are in the habit of working with running clubs, and reaching out, offering discounts, that kind of thing. Does this statistic say anything more to you about what race directors can do on the back of that to encourage more people to enter races?

Michael: 25:03

It does. I think that was something that was really striking for us, too, and that was a new question to the Global Runner Survey this year. We asked, "In general, how do you run the majority of the runs?" And the options were, "On my own, with a friend or a group of friends, and with an organized running group or club." And 51% of the people said on their own, which means half of those people said they run with other people. And I think that's huge to understand that half of these people are running with others. They're going to running clubs. They're doing it socially. So it's very important for race organizations to say, "Hey, are we reaching out to some of these social groups to bring them in and make them feel included in our races?" We see some really big running clubs sprouting up all over the country. I mean, we have Atlanta Run Club, we have peace runners in Chicago, we have WERUN313 in Detroit, the St Louis Run Crew, and those are demographics of people that probably aren't at our races yet, or that we're missing out on. So it's really important for races to say, like, hey, what are we doing to include these run clubs? St Louis, in their rebrand from the Go St Louis Marathon to Greater St Louis Marathon, created a Run Club section in their post race experience where different Run Clubs have their own little area after the race, and saw a really good response from the community to that. So are we offering those things at our races? But then are we going to meet these people where they are? As a marketing arm of a race, are you going to your weeknight run clubs and seeing and integrating yourself into them? Because I think people can see through if it's not genuine, if it's like,"Hey, I'm just coming so that I can get you to my race." But no, I want to build you into this. And Chicago Event Management also does a great job with this where they took the Bank of America Chicago 13.1 and moved it to a community where they saw a thriving Run Club, where they saw Jackie Hoffman and Peace Runners doing amazing things in the west side of Chicago, and said, "Hey, we're going to bring a race to you and really incorporate your run club into it" and have seen a lot of positive impact from that. So I think it's important for races to see in that number that half of people are running with others, and figure out a way to build that into their marketing plan.

Panos: 27:49

Yeah. And I guess the flip side of races reaching out to running clubs is that many races-- I remember vividly from my podcast with Brian Mister of Around The Crown 10K. They organize group runs, which often are a fantastic opportunity also for sponsors. I mean, it's a prime asset for a sponsor to get in there for Brooks, someone like that, and as you say, if you really mean it, because, yeah, people see through this thing-- but if you really, which most race directors are, passionate about this, and before a race, they have a couple of nice group runs, they bring out a couple of sponsors out there, it's all organic, it's a winning combination.

Michael: 28:30

It really is. And I like that you bring up Brian because what he's done with the Charlotte running community and Around The Crown has been so awesome to see that it is a year round thing. And if you look at the deliverables for a sponsor, they're gonna love that, that they're not getting exposure just one day a year, but they're getting weekly, monthly exposure to these runners and you're supporting these runners along their whole journey, not just on race day or race weekend. So yeah, I think that's a valuable thing of building that in for not just your runners, but for your sponsors too.

Panos: 29:09

So next interesting data point from the survey is the reasons why people run, which, I mean to me, they seem fairly straightforward - stay in shape, have fun, relieve stress. I guess, we're all familiar with all that.

Michael: 29:26

I think those are very valid. And I think the have fun of it piece is something that I think we all need to remember. Yes, this is a very serious industry and we're putting on these mega events that require a lot of safety, security, seriousness, but at the end of the day, it's about having fun. And like, if we're having fun, they're going to have fun. But then also the stay in shape piece of it, and to stay healthy, that's another big part of, like we said, being part of that journey with the runners where you're going to the run clubs, where you're supporting them along the training aspect is going to bring them back to your race and going to keep them invested in it. So yeah, it's not anything we didn't know. But I think it's important to keep in mind that fun piece of it and that you're there training along with the runners, not just on the day of your event.

Panos: 30:24

And similar to the point, I guess about running clubs and reaching out to running clubs, going where the runners are, is the other data point from the report about 93% of runners - not really particularly surprising- also doing other activities besides running, going to the gym, going to fitness classes, doing swimming, cycling, all of that kind of stuff. I know lots of race directors would be quite familiar with reaching out running clubs piece and maybe, I guess, putting a couple of posters up in the local gym, but I don't think I see much cross sport type of promotions. So, maybe you go to your local cycling event or the local swimming event or a yoga class or something like that. Particularly, locally, I guess it's a quite powerful thing to do.

Michael: 31:17

I think the running space can learn a lot from other fitness spaces too. If you look at HYROX which is growing in popularity here in the US, or CrossFit on that thing where they're going to their local gyms, they're going to their local fitness studios, we're seeing that our runners are there, so why aren't we as well? Why aren't we doing more than just putting up a poster in a gym? But hey, let's lead group runs from our gym. Let's provide training programs or make sure that the personal trainers are aware of what's going on and have access to training documents or to support the people that are going there for weight training. So yeah, it's valuable to know, like, our runners aren't just running. They're doing a lot more than that, and let's meet them in those places.

Panos: 32:11

And I guess the thing we've got going for us, particularly in running, is that running has a fairly low barrier to entry. Lots of people run, which I guess is the flip point of runners doing 93% of other stuff. The flip side of that is that lots of people who do other stuff also run. So you go out to any other sport, you're not pitching fencing here or triathlon events. Running means that people will likely run when you reach out to another sports activity. I'm not talking a marathon but if you're doing a local 5K, 10K supporting a good cause, there's lots of people who would turn out for a 5K without even much training, right?

Michael: 32:53

And I think a lot of people are-- growing up, if you play another sport or doing it, sometimes, running is seen as punishment. So I think it's important for race organizations to make sure that they're adding those fun elements into it. I mean, people say they wanted to run for fun. Let's make it not a punishing thing. Let's add in entertainment along the way. Let's make it an experience for people so that they're more likely to leave the gym and actually participate in a 5K not because it's a punishment or something that they have to do, but something they really want to do because it's fun.

Panos: 33:35

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Michael: 35:46

Exactly. So we saw in 2023-- that was a question that was asked last year. We saw that more people actually are identifying as serious or competitive runners, but also more people are joggers and recreational. So we're seeing more people moving from walker to runner, but both ends of it are growing - both the competitive end and the recreational end. And so I think it is important for races to realize, like, yes, the front of your pack is important, but just as or more important, maybe the back of the pack runners or the people that it's a lot more challenging for them. So, I think we need a few more years of that to see what that is and that's something an upcoming Running USA survey or research that we're going to put out is looking at finishing times and how they've changed over the last 10 years. Have people gotten faster? Have people gotten slower in each of these distances? So that we really can see what is happening. Are more people identifying as runners? Are more people getting more competitive? How is that changing?

Panos: 37:01

Yeah, I think historically, the trend has been on average finish times. Average finish times have been creeping up, which basically means that the sport has been going more and more mainstream. Because, back in Fred's time in the New York Marathon, you had 10 crazy folks who were running around the year, doing crazy times. Now that the New York Marathon has 50,000 runners, obviously times are going to be a little bit broader than that.

Michael: 37:30

Totally. And we're seeing races add in longer cut off times. Hawaii has done a great job with it with their marathon. New York. I encourage- I know this is coming out before the New York Marathon - if you're going to be there, go out to that finish line at eight or nine o'clock at night, and you won't find a better atmosphere than those. That build in that experience for those last runners. So it is making more people feel welcome at the races so that if they're finishing in three hours, or if they're finishing in eight hours, it's just as good of an experience for them.

Panos: 38:05

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I totally agree with you. That's what it's all about - those kinds of folks. It's really inspiring. Let's move on to event participation, another large piece of the survey with lots of great information in it. Just a couple of highlights for people - they may not be familiar with - on average, people in the survey responded that they run around 11 events per year, which sounds quite a lot to me, actually.

Michael: 38:29

Yeah. If you think about it though, that's one event a month. That's not terrible. So if you're training for a half marathon or a marathon, that means you're doing a 5K and a 10K leading up to it. You're doing one event a month, and it's actually down. We saw that number was 12 in 2023, so not down much, but 11 events a year means if you're only putting on one event a year, maybe you're missing out on opportunities to catch those runners at other times of the year.

Panos: 38:59

Absolutely. And of course, the all time favorite distance, the half marathon, is still reigning over other distances. No surprise, I think. It's a great distance to run, right? It's just about challenging enough for most people. And there's some fantastic half marathons out there in terms of event experience. So not really a surprise there.

Michael: 39:20

No. We saw 35% said it was their favorite distance. So it was, by far and away, the next highest. So 35% for half marathon. The next highest was 17% for 5K. So it was almost 20 percentage points higher than any other. Other people are saying, "You know what, I like half marathon the most."

Panos: 39:40

One part of the survey that I found really interesting and of course very helpful to our audience is the reasons why people would choose to do an event. I think this is probably one of the most important data points in the survey. So top three reasons, location, distance, course, entry fee comes close at number four. Least popular reasons in reverse order - going from the back from the least popular reason to join a race, at least from the ones that you presented in the survey- sustainability, inclusivity, chip timing, and then again, the fourth least popular is the race would benefit a cause or a charity.

Michael: 40:27

That was surprising to us, kind of too. We actually added in some of those elements to see, are people looking at the sustainability efforts of an organization and saying, "Okay, I want to align myself with these or align myself with the values of the organization." And people said that wasn't important to them necessarily. And I think, as an industry, we shouldn't look at that and say, well, people don't care about sustainability. We don't need to care about sustainability. I think what's important to note is that we need to be showing our participants maybe why they should be caring about that. I mean, if you're in the US right now, so many areas of the US are seeing effects of climate change and global warming that races are having to change their dates, to cancel, to move locations. So they may not say that that's important to them, but maybe it should be more important to them. But also, when you look at those top things of event location, desirable course, distance, the preferable distance, those are really opportunities for races to highlight those. Is your website homepage showing the beautiful aspects of your course? Does it have photos of the landscape that your course is running through? Does it highlight the distances, if it's flat or fast, or if it's scenic? Those valuable pieces of what makes your course stand out is going to be really important. And then I think that event location being number one also is something to really drive home of what are you showing about your community, about your city, that is unique and that should bring people in to that community. If we look at some of the races that have grown the most, it's not that they're in the biggest cities, but they're incorporating elements of their city. Like, the Eugene Marathon is finishing on historic Hayward Fields track. Like, that's really cool and something that only can be done in Eugene is to finish on Hayward Fields track. So bringing in some of those elements of your location to really feature those in your marketing and in your race plans.

Panos: 42:50

Yeah, I think your point on sustainability is an important one whether people care or not about it. I mean, there's two separate things here, right? Would someone enter an event because they believe it to be more sustainable? The survey seems to suggest that that's not very high on people's agendas. That's a completely separate point from whether events need to be sustainable. Events need to be sustainable because it's the right thing to do for everyone involved, for local communities, for the planet, for everyone to the extent that it doesn't hurt the bottom line too much, which I think nowadays is possible. I think one of the things, because we've done a few podcasts on sustainability with different products coming onto the market, different experts-- I think one of the things that race directors struggle to do is tell the story of sustainability in an engaging way. I think we need to be a little bit more imaginative in the way that sustainability is highlighted through events and the kinds of initiatives we take. To be fair, the low hanging fruit, which is offering a wood medal, which can be pretty awesome, but they leave them feeling a little bit short changed and that's actually-- this is coming from the people who work in these kinds of fields, right? We need to be a little bit smarter. The partnerships that we do with the industry - bringing in sustainability sponsors who may sponsor your water station, that kind of thing, help you go couples, you know, which is a big thing now in the industry, even in road racing - we just need to do better and be smarter about this kind of thing.

Michael: 44:27

And I think you made a good point that there is low hanging fruit there, and there are easy things that races can do. And Running USA, that's something we want to really support. Tina Muir is one of our board members, and I love the work she does because she breaks it down to a level where runners can understand, where organizers can understand that you're not having to make these massive changes. But does your website during your registration process offer people no shirt option? Some people don't need a shirt or don't want a shirt, but are you making them choose a shirt that they're then just going to not use? Are you offering cupless races? Do you have refill stations along the way where somebody doesn't want to grab a cup at a water stop, that they can just go fill up through a pitcher or a mug? So working with organizations like HydraPak that have these options for cupless races. There are things that are easy for race organizations, for runners to do that I think highlighting those may not bring new runners in, but it's going to keep runners around and gonna be the right thing to do to keep your organization afloat and to keep your community leave a better place than you found it, which I think any organization should want to do.

Panos: 45:57

And the other thing I'm getting from this list, again, a focus on race experience type items. So you have course on number three. You have swag - I think it was around number five or something. You have sort of middle of the pack people choosing races because of the venue being a vacation destination, which I often do with racing. I want to go to an interesting place, particularly if it's a marathon or a race you'll be training for a while. You want to go to an interesting place. So sort of looking at the hierarchy of these things, to me, it looks like the decision making of a runner is one and two, location, distance. Is it the race I'm looking for to begin with? Right? So just ticking the boxes of, is this the thing I'm looking for? Number four, can I afford it - entry fee? And then is it going to be a nice race - course, swag, vacation, where it's held? And then, sort of everything else. Even chip timing seems to be fairly down the list.

Michael: 46:57

Yeah. And I think that maybe because nowadays, it's kind of assumed that all races are going to be chip time and that it's just part of the experience now. So maybe people think-- and maybe that's the same thing with just inclusivity of values, as we think, like, hey, organizations are going to be that way no matter what. So, let's focus on the things that are different among the races like their vacation and their cost or their entry fee, and their course and what swag they're providing.

Panos: 47:27

And indeed, swag is at the top of the list when it comes to what people actually value when they are at the event.

Michael: 47:34

People love good swag items. They love a good medal. I actually have right behind me medals from different races I've done, so I'm right there with it. You like the swag that you get, so I think it's important to note that and to be unique in that where swag doesn't have to be a T-shirt because that's another thing we asked in the Global Runner Survey is like,"What other items would you prefer other than a T-shirt?" People said top three were hats, socks, either glass or mug. So there are other options where you can be a little bit more unique with what you're giving. But people do love that swag.

Panos: 48:12

Absolutely. I personally would love a mug because, as you say, the shirt-- people who run lots of races, particularly-- I mean your average run around 11 races a year, right? You can't wear all those T-shirts. Lots of those T-shirts, let's face it, they're not the kind of shirt you'd enjoy running in anyway because they're not top end kind of fabrics and designs. So socks, absolutely. Hats, great, very versatile. Mugs, of course. I mean, you can't have enough mugs, can you?

Michael: 48:45

Totally. It's one of those. I love getting different new stuff,and I think a lot of our vendors are really good at supporting some of those new things. And if we're looking at a younger generation-- I went to a music festival last weekend and everybody was wearing a fanny pack or a cross body bag. So maybe giving something like that out that people are going to use outside of when they're running because we're seeing that runner-- like you said, runners are going to the gym, runners are going and hiking. What items are we giving them that they can use in these other places?

Panos: 49:19

Yeah, and speaking of shirts, actually, give them a shirt that's not technical. Give them either a tri-blend or a nice cotton shirt that doesn't have the sponsors. It's just a nice shirt you can wear around the year.

Michael: 49:33

Yeah, and it's definitely one of those. While I understand the importance of sponsors on the back and giving them visibility, is someone gonna then wear around your shirt that I-like-to-call-it kind of logo soup where it's just a lot of logos on there? And what is the true value of that in the future? Being in the industry for as long as I am, I love when I go out on a run in my city and see people actually wearing the shirts from races that I've put on over the years, and be like, "Okay, somebody actually finds value in wearing that again." And also, I think it's important, I noted, to give people the option to opt out if they don't want it, and that's just a good way to save your budget, but also to be more sustainable in there.

Panos: 50:25

Absolutely, absolutely. So number three in the things that people value, of course, another great favorite, restroom facilities. You can't have enough porta potties, I guess. You can't go wrong with having more porta pots in a race, right? No one ever complained for too many porta potties.

Michael: 50:42

No, never. I think that's definitely an easy thing to-- if you're thinking about, do we need to add more? Where can we add more budget? Porta potties a good line item because there are going to be people that want it and and making sure that you're offering those facilities because that's something people are going to remember, is if they didn't make it to the start line in time because they were in line for the porta potty and is that going to keep them from coming back in the future?

Panos: 51:11

Another one of the favorites up there is course distance accuracy. I actually wouldn't have put it myself that high. I mean, I wouldn't have expected the average runner to care that much about course distance accuracy, but there it is. We did a whole podcast actually, 3-4 episodes, back on course measurement and certification. It is an important piece to all this. People actually value that

Michael: 51:37

It is. I think it's important to note that people aren't training for a half marathon. They're training for a half marathon and they want that accurate distance. And I think it's the little things. You hear the stories of bands and concerts or bands or their writer will put, like, all green M&M's, and it's because they're wanting you to see the details. If a race is missing those little details of like, they're not even making their course the accurate measurement, what else are they missing? And what else are they not-- so let's actually-- those details of getting a course accurate. Yes, I think there's a lot of value in getting a course certified and measured properly but if it's a community 5K, you may not need to pay to bring in a USATF measurer for it. But me as a race director, I love to run the course over and over and over again just to make sure that my GPS one time through, two times through isn't getting off somewhere, that I'm providing an accurate course, even if I'm not going through the Jones Counter certification measuring process.

Panos: 52:56

Have you thought in this section asking people about race announcers? I think it would be really interesting to know whether the race announcer is something that runners value.

Michael: 53:08

No, that is something we've looked at. We do have some really good race announcers who are members of Running USA, and something we're looking at adding into either conference or a webinar, like, what makes a good race announcer, and how important is a good race announcer. So we haven't necessarily asked that to runners, but we've thought about how to build that into our Running USA initiatives in the future, and I think that's a good point of potentially adding that in because we saw race communications are really important to runners, and part of that could be the race announcer who's making those onsite communications.

Panos: 53:47

I think they add a lot to the race experience, personally. I think it's one of those. And I'm only saying this because it might convince more people or persuade more people to consider having a race announcer in the race. Because I think, I mean, it is a cost and it is an optional cost. Just factually speaking, you can put on a race without a race announcer. But I think they add so much to even a 5K that it would be nice to perhaps see some of that reflected in the data. So we can also say that, actually, runners also value that quite highly.

Michael: 54:24

Yeah, that's a good point. We added in a whole section on race communication this year, and as part of that, in the future, maybe we add in there about, "How much do you think about the race announcer, value that in your experience?"

Panos: 54:38

We're getting into race communication in a second. One very important data point before that, you ask people, "Are race fees too expensive?" I guess no one ever said, "No, they're not." I mean, whatever race fees might be-- I mean, I don't even know what to make of the data for this question. It's something I've been tracking through the Global Runner Survey for a while. It never changes, does it? I mean, can we expect any surprise here? So just for the numbers, 63% of people either strongly or somehow agree. So basically, 63% of people think that race fees are too expensive. 26% are sort of neutral on that. Only 11% disagree. I mean, I guess we would like to have those running our races. But is there anything in this kind of data point-- I mean, people are always going to think races are expensive.

Michael: 55:35

I don't think there necessarily is. I think there's more in looking at-- along with"Are race fees too expensive?", we asked if participants would pay more for a VIP race experience. So I think there's more value in that. I think it does stay around the same number of people who say it is too expensive. And we asked further in the survey, like, what are you willing to spend on a race? So I think there's value more in that. We did include this in just because it would be interesting to see if that changes. But you're right. I don't think it's going to change much. But instead, let's look at what are people willing to spend money on and then how much are they willing to spend per event distance?

Panos: 56:24

Yeah, I saw those numbers actually in the survey. As you say, you ask people, "What do you think is a fair price to pay for different types of distances?" And I compared them actually to the latest RunSignup numbers for averages for those distances, and the two seem to line up quite well. I mean, obviously, for the marathon, because you have those high profile marathons, you have some races pricing above that, but now we're talking the really top 1-2% of races. But it seems that runners' expectations are very, very close actually correlated with the reality of where race fees actually are.

Michael: 57:05

Yeah. So while they may say it's too expensive, they're still willing to pay those average prices and believe those to be fair. So runners aren't different than other people that we like to complain about something, so we're gonna find those to say it's too expensive.

Panos: 57:27

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Michael: 1:00:11

They do. And I think you nailed it when you said, like, where are you spending your marketing dollars on Facebook or if you're being hyper local or looking at other markets. I know a lot of half marathons that have looked at where are direct flights from my city? And then can I go to those cities and promote expos or promote to those markets because people are willing to travel for a half marathon from another city, but let's make it not too tough. Let's make it a direct flights from there. But let's stay hyper local with our 5K and 10K's. I also think it's important, if you have a half marathon, do you have a 5K or 10K option to maybe capture some of the local crowd that you're missing out on because they're traveling other places for half marathons or marathons, but we see people are running 11 events a year. So maybe that's an opportunity for you to add in a shorter distance while you have the roads closed down to do a 5K for that local audience that may not be ready to do a half marathon or may not want to do a local half marathon.

Panos: 1:01:22

Indeed, indeed. Yeah, great points. If you can, as you say, the roads are closed, put on a 5K, 10K. I think margins are pretty good on those as well. So it makes sense.

Michael: 1:01:34

Yeah. I mean, I know it's not as easy as, "Oh, we have roads closed. Let's put on a 5K," but it's something to consider. We see a lot of races adding in those other distances.

Panos: 1:01:46

Now, you mentioned the communications bit here, where Meg had her finger in it, I guess.

Michael: 1:01:52

Yes. Treat reached out to us and said, "Hey, we want to see-- we know communication--" Obviously, they know communications are important. But like we said, let's have some numbers to back it up, and let's build that into the Global Runner Survey, and that's really kind of what we did, is look to like, how important are communications to participants.

Panos: 1:02:11

Absolutely. And Meg, what a force in the industry, isn't she? I mean, she's great.

Michael: 1:02:18

I mean, it's again an example of people that care about the industry, that have passion for it, that are hustling and really working hard to see the industry improve.

Panos: 1:02:27

Absolutely, absolutely and she's great at it. Okay, I guess there's a few elements to the marketing and communications bit here. The one that highlights and captures the whole thing quite well is the response to the statement, the quality frequency and timing of pre and post race communications is important. So basically, how important really is that pre race email or that post race email to people? And the numbers are quite compelling. 75% of people agree with that statement. And thinking about it, it makes total sense, doesn't it?

Michael: 1:03:09

Yeah, it does. I mean, people want to know what they're getting into, what they're spending their money on, what they should expect out of the experience. So are we providing all that information on our website? Surprisingly to me, it was a smaller number of people that said a social media presence was important. Only 24% of respondents said that it was important that the race, the event had a prominent social media presence. So they want communications, but it doesn't necessarily have to be social media. And I think an element we can really take from that is how much are we sharing with our participants, and how often beforehand. We see people registering almost a year in advance and then are we just forgetting about them until two days before the race when we send them the info and packet pickup? Or are we communicating updates about the race, about their experience? And then another important piece of that is we see a lot of races have weather issues, have changes that are going on at the last minute. So are we really being proactive with communicating any updates about what may be happening with race start times, with locations, with any of that and participants are finding that valuable. And then are we not just leaving them as soon as the race is over? I ran a half marathon this weekend, and I loved that I went to their website right after the race, and right at the top of it, they had a results link. They had already made it. They built the website to where, right after the race, it had exactly what I wanted at the top of the website that it was very easy to find. Am I making those kinds of decisions to where somebody is not having to go search through everything to find their photos or to find their results? Am I making it really easy for them to find it after the race as well?

Panos: 1:05:11

I think you're quite generous in choosing weather updates as an example for this because I think lots of races, from my experience as a participant in races, fail at a very much lower bar than that. I think the gripe people have that is reflected in the 75% urgency to ask race directors to communicate more is not about not communicating when a hurricane comes to town. I think it's much more pedestrian stuff. Like, the number of times where I need to chase races for simple stuff, it's like radio silence until the day before, and you don't know where you need to show up, what you're doing, where you're parking? Like, I think we need to do much better in the simple stuff, right? I mean, it's interesting because as a race director, because you have all that information in your head, sometimes it creates a little bit of a blindness and you're thinking, obviously people would, "Oh, that's obvious, or that's obvious, or people would know about this." And often, even in our group, people complain, lots of participants ask questions that can be found on the website or can be found on FAQs or that they've been communicated before. But I think when that happens quite a lot, you need to flip that and ask yourself, like, "Okay, I feel I've told people 10 times over." But people are not dumb. I mean, like most people are. If I get 10 people asking the same thing, maybe I need to communicate more or better in a different way. It can't be that all these people are complaining, they just go online and write emails for no reason.

Michael: 1:06:48

Exactly. And I think it's important to know, like, am I placing it in more spots than just the FAQs? I think a big piece of pre and post race communication is the methods with which we're doing it. Are we going to our local news stations? Are we using multiple mediums to reach people so that they're finding it on social media, on our website, through emails? Let's reiterate a lot of these points. And like you said, it can be some of the basic stuff of where to park, where to show up. I'm always amazed at how I go to some race websites, and it's tough for me to find the start time of the race. Do you have your start time listed right there next to your date? It's super important. So I think just really thinking through the mediums with which we're communicating and making sure that it's not just, "Oh, we put it in one place, so they're gonna find it there." It can be tough, so let's put it in multiple places and make it as easy as possible for them.

Panos: 1:07:52

So one of the perhaps apparently contradictory aspects of this report - although I think I know how to reconcile it- is that although people in the communications bit said that a race is presence on social media isn't all that important, when it comes to the discovery side of things, meaning how did I find a race, social media is at 48%, which is actually as high as the top ways that people discover events, which is Google, and then word of mouth and friends and family. So Google is at 52%. Friends and family, 52%. Word of mouth, 52%. And then, right after that, just before running website listings, which is also important, at 47%, social media at 48%. And my guess there is that people discover lots of races on social media through paid ads, but a race having an organic presence on social media is no longer, sadly, very important for people because of how low organic reach is on social media.

Michael: 1:08:59

Yeah, that was surprising to us as well to see that people are finding out about races there but they don't necessarily care about a social media presence. And I think that's important to remember that, like, social media is just one piece of the arsenal for communications, and that people are finding it through your website, through your emails, through your press releases. So it is important to draw them in, but maybe once they're in, it's not the only place that they're looking for information about your race, once you have them. And like you said, the organic reach of it may not be as high as it could be to help them find the race through some kind of paid reach. But I think in general, when you look at how people find out about the races, a lot of it is grassroots. It's a lot of, "Are we showing up on Google searches? Are we showing up in our community so that word of mouth is picking up?" And it is really important to have that word of mouth and to have friends and family members having good experiences, so that they're going back and telling other people about the race or telling people to join them at the race.

Panos: 1:10:10

At 27%, promoting your event at another event or Expo, although not one of the top factors, not surprisingly, is still a good way to promote your event, right? Going out there, similar events, expos, and just being part of that community and promoting that event right there and then where runners are.

Michael: 1:10:28

It is. I think something to remember too is it may not be where you want to spend the most of your money, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be going to expos. And I think it's important too to note that you can't just be at the Expo. You have to have a presence at the Expo. You have to draw people in at the Expo. So just being a runner, I go to plenty of expos and there's so many booths that I just pass up because there's nothing that's kind of enticing me or drawing me in. So you can't just have a social media site. You can't just be at an expo. You have to actually have a presence there and make sure that you're making the most of it and not just being present.

Panos: 1:11:11

Influencers, fairly new trend, they scored 9% as a means of runners discovering races. I don't know what to make of this number. I don't know whether it was there last year, whether it's growing or not.

Michael: 1:11:26

That was a new add for this year, so I'm curious to see if that grows in the future and I think that maybe undervalued and something that if we see a lot of places-- I think an influencer is a very broad word, but a lot of races have ambassador programs. Those are influencers. They may be more of a micro influencer but how are we utilizing them? So I think it will be, as we continue the Global Runner Survey, interesting to see if that number grows and how to use those. And we're actually planning a session at Running USA on how to utilize influencers, because I think they are growing within our industry and just in general in the marketing plans of organizations.

Panos: 1:12:17

Yeah, because you see this 9% number compared to the other ones like Google, word of mouth at 52% and you're thinking, "Oh, this is a really small number." Of course, it would be because influencers is, by design, a very micro type marketing thing. But actually looking at it, I would say it's pretty impressive that it's even at 9%. I mean, it's considering the number of people who do races, and I think that's probably-- actually, it's explained by what you said about race ambassadors. Yes, if you extend influencers to include race ambassadors, then yeah, race ambassadors actually play a very important role in terms of marketing events, and they have great results.

Michael: 1:12:59

They do. And I think influencers too, we see a lot of races that are using influencers outside of the running space. I think Mascot Sports here in the US is doing a great job of this with like the Diplo Run Club or Travis Barker running events that they're bringing new people into our sport by utilizing influencers who may not be just runners, but may just be lifestyle influencers that were bringing people in Boulderthon, and also did a really good job of this recently of utilizing influencers in different spaces to draw in new people that may not be your everyday runner, but are gonna participate because they saw somebody just in the lifestyle space who's participating.

Panos: 1:13:47

So last section in the survey is the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging section. Looking at the numbers here, and I think we saw that actually earlier a hint of that in the"Why do people choose events" part of the survey, it seems that most runners don't seem to be actively selecting events that rank highly in this diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging category. But I wonder whether that's a little bit misleading, right? Because I guess the people for whom this kind of thing would be important are the minorities and the underrepresented groups that care more about this kind of thing, right? So if you ask the broad population of runners, "Is diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging important to you?" I guess you'd get lukewarm responses because lots of people are not touched by this kind of thing, I mean, personally.

Michael: 1:14:45

Yeah. The ones that we're trying to bring into the industry are the ones that aren't taking this survey. So I think it's not that-- in the same way we talked about the sustainability piece not drawing people in, that doesn't mean that it's not valuable and it's not important. I think, hopefully, we'll see this number grow of people seeing that our industry needs to be more inclusive and belonging because we're bringing in new people to the industry that have that feeling, that have that mentality, that we're really mirroring society because there are people that we're not reaching, that aren't taking this survey, that do find this valuable.

Panos: 1:15:22

And I think a big part of inclusivity, as we discussed earlier in the podcast, is including people from lower incomes. I think, for me, this is really important. These days, when we speak of inclusivity and diversity, sort of different types of stuff is the first stuff that comes to mind, but we shouldn't forget that that's a big, big part of inclusivity - getting people from all kinds of incomes into racing. And one of the questions you asked there, which I found quite interesting, is what kind of initiatives would improve that, and 41% of people said having income-based entry fees. Now I don't know whether that's something that is a thing in the US or even practically how you would implement something like that. I know that we mentioned Brian Mister and Around The Crown 10K earlier, they do a pay what you can, which is sort of along those lines. But have you seen or do you know of any races that do income based entry fees or do any kind of adjustments for disadvantaged people?

Michael: 1:16:28

I don't, and I think there is an opportunity within our industry to do that to provide opportunities like that. And I think our registration platforms are so innovative, and I think it could be a challenge that they could help us solve how can we build in some kind of-- and I think it's tough. It would be tough to do it income based but along the lines of pay what you can-- I always have this idea of like, "Can I donate a little extra money to support somebody else coming? Can I pay for somebody else's race entry and be able to do that?" Giving that option to participants when they register because I think there are people out there that would say, like, "Yes, I'm willing to pay $35 to this race. But I also know that I have a little more money, so maybe I can pay $60 and cover part of somebody else's registration." So I think there is an opportunity there for our registration companies, for Running USA, to maybe help support races as they create new pricing models and get creative there that we can operate on some kind of pay as you can, or supporting people that are from lower income levels.

Panos: 1:17:48

Yeah. I remember the details of this in our podcast on Around The Crown 10K. Brian went through the details of pay what you can and how it actually worked because, obviously one of the first questions is, "Are people going to try and arb that and everyone you know show up for free? How does it impact the economics?" And actually, they've come to a very practical implementation of it, which, as far as I remember, goes a little bit like, at checkout, you can provide some extra money to pay for someone who can't. And also the number of scholarships, I guess, that you give out to people that allows them to participate for free is capped at 200 people or some percentage of the event. So there are practical ways to do it. And I think one of the things that Brian was telling me there is that people don't game the system. People are being honest. When they can't afford to pay, they pay, and when they can't afford to pay, they are sincere about not affording to pay. Like, you'd think that people would try to game it and everyone rush in and sign up for free, but people don't do that, actually.

Michael: 1:18:54

I think that just speaks to the human piece of this. It's tough to do, but we should inherently see the good in people, especially in the running space. Runners, for the most part, are good people and are going to be honest about that, and are gonna really support each other and not necessarily game the system.

Panos: 1:19:19

Now, I want to end up on what was probably the most surprising thing for me in the survey in a pleasant way, which is the runner profiles. I actually found them extremely interesting. So the runner profiles, and I was suspecting Meg's fingerprint on this as well, but apparently I saw on the webinar that it's something that you guys have done before. So the runner profiles are a kind of marketing persona, right? That's how I saw it. Basically, you say, okay, let me put tags on people and let me create groups around different subgroups of people who run. So you have, let's say, your black runners or you have your female runners, or you have runners who have been running only since 2020, so your new runners. And then you take out the data, the survey data, of those subgroups, and you compare how they're doing compared to the averages. So for instance, you're finding that, not surprisingly, people who only recently started running, they're more likely to be recreational runners rather than competitive runners, and all these kinds of things, which, when you read the runner profile, and it's quite extensive actually, it paints a very vivid picture for you, which is an obvious one. I mean, there's no surprises. You know that the marathon runner is more likely to be spending more on shoes or to be doing more races or something. But I find with these marketing personas, it's so valuable when you're going out marketing or advertising your event to have that vivid profile of all those different people in mind and how you can reach them differently and speak to them differently and have a different message for them. So, very well done for that. I thought it was a really great aspect of the report.

Michael: 1:21:15

Yeah. So we did 10 runner profiles this year and I was pretty strategic with what I pulled just looking at what are some larger groups that we can pull out of there that may have some differences. One that I wanted to pull out was how are international runners different than the-- how were international respondents different than US? And there weren't differences, really. So in our international number, we only had 6% of survey respondents are international. So maybe as we grow that number, it'll change. But I do think it is important to not look at runners as a monolith and not think that all runners are the same and that we can look at all of this survey data and say every runner is going to be reached by word of mouth because they said this on there. But like, let's actually divide up these runners based off of some of their profile characteristics to see how we can reach them separately, and I think that's something I want to continue to grow of, like, how can we pull even more profiles out of that information? Because the more we're able to do that, the more helpful it'll be to races to really target specific groups and to hone their marketing efforts to those individual groups.

Panos: 1:22:38

Now, I think it's super important for marketing, particularly now that targeting those subgroups of people is made possible through the targeting engines of Facebook and other platforms. I think it makes a lot of sense to say, okay, newer runners are more likely, for instance, as you highlight in the report, to be single rather than married. So maybe I highlight an aspect of my event that is geared more towards these guys, so I don't put all my advertising spend on just runners. And then, on a subgroup who might be more likely to be married, maybe I highlight what the family can do during the race, those kinds of things. So I think it's super, super important information if you decide to make good use of it.

Michael: 1:23:19

Yeah, I definitely encourage people just to check out the Global Runner Survey for all of it. Those profiles specifically are very valuable.

Panos: 1:23:29

Speaking of which, how can people get hold of the Global Runner Survey?

Michael: 1:23:33

So the Global Runner Survey in the past was a paid report that people would have to pay to download into view. Thanks to a partnership this year with Active Network. We decided that all Running USA members get free access to the Global Runner Survey. Part of that is just to bring more people into Running USA, to bring more value to our members. So for non members, it is available for-- you can purchase it. I want to say it's $299, which is just a little bit less than a membership to Running USA and we kind of work strategic with that because we want to bring people in as members, get them involved. But it is available on our website runningusa.org. We have all of our reports available. We have a new partnership with athletes, the finish results organization to where we have reports that we're putting out year round based on a lot of that finisher data. So along with the Runner Survey, you can find information about a lot of different race reports on our report section of runningusa.org.

Panos: 1:24:45

Absolutely. How can people reach you if they want to maybe send a message of support or have a question about something relating to running USA, the conference or something else?

Michael: 1:24:54

Yeah, you can reach out to me by email. Michael@runningusa.org. Also, I will be in a lot of different cities coming up soon. So I'll be in New York for the New York Marathon, Chicago, if this comes out before then. New York, Running USA will be doing an industry reception as well. New York Road Runners is offering up their Run Center on Saturday, late afternoon for a industry free industry reception. So reach out to me at Michael@runningusa.org if you're going to be in New York. But I'll also be in Athens for European Running Business Conference and in England for the Running Conference. So trying to get some of our international friends, get networked and get up with them, but also just via email and social media. Jay and I are really big on doing what we can to support the industry. So if you have any questions, if you have any recommendations for us, we are all ears on what we can do to move our industry forward.

Panos: 1:26:00

Awesome. You should send me your bib number. If I don't run the Athens Marathon, I'm always out there supporting and clapping for people.

Michael: 1:26:06

Yeah, it'll be marathon number 21. I've heard it's hilly and can be hot.

Panos: 1:26:12

It's both of those things.

Michael: 1:26:13

Not ideal. But hey, when else will I be able to run a marathon and finish in the original Olympic Stadium? It'll be cool.

Panos: 1:26:21

Indeed, indeed. I mean, the feeling of going into that stadium is surreal. So you're up for a treat there.

Michael: 1:26:27

You're really excited about the experience.

Panos: 1:26:29

I hope you have a great time. And I hope the weather actually isn't as hot as it's been last couple of years. It's really becoming a big issue here in Greece. The weather is just a little bit too hot even in November, which is not great. One last thing on Running USA, anything exciting we should be looking forward to? Any peak we could have into new initiatives, things coming out, things you guys are working on?

Michael: 1:26:58

Yeah. So we have two research studies we're working on right now. One of them is in partnership with MarathonFoto, where they have some really cool technology that's able to identify the shoe brand of finishers of races that they photograph. So we're working with MarathonFoto to look at what are shoe preferences of individuals and races in the US and around the country or around the world that MarathonFoto works with, and we'll be presenting that data at some of the upcoming conferences, including the running event in Austin, Texas, and then we'll probably be touching on it in both Athens and in England as well at those conferences. We also are working on a report right now looking at finish times. The Boston Marathon, changing their cutoff times really brought on what are times doing? Are people getting faster in all distances and all races? So we're going to be looking at finish times for 5Ks, 10Ks, half, full marathons, based on gender, based on age, based on a lot of different factors. So those will be coming out by the end of this calendar year. And then, I'm really excited about what we're doing with conference, with our annual industry conference, which will be February 2-4 in Louisville, Kentucky. So right here in my hometown, I have a lot of great stuff planned for that industry conference. So it's one of those that you're not going to want to miss out on, just great networking opportunities, but also some really cool educational sessions there.

Panos: 1:28:38

Awesome. You put your finger on the scale there to bring it to Louisville.

Michael: 1:28:42

Surprisingly, it had been chosen before I came in, but I think at some point I did. I used to work for the Louisville Sports Commission, and every year I would tell them, let's bid on hosting Running USA. Let's bid on it. And I left that organization in 2018 and it just took a few years for me to finally have my influence to come back around,"Oh, we're hosting it here in Kentucky."

Panos: 1:29:05

Great. Short commute for you. Well, Michael, I want to thank you very, very much for your time. I'm sure listeners drew lots of value from this great discussion, lots of highlights. If you want to download the full report, as Michael said, it's available to Running USA members. You can also purchase it at a price if you're not a Running USA member, and we look forward to all of the other great reports you guys will be bringing out. So thank you very much for your time today. I hope you enjoyed the discussion.

Michael: 1:29:33

Yes, thank you for having me and yeah, be in touch if you need us.

Panos: 1:29:38

Absolutely. Well, thanks again, and thanks to everyone listening in, and we'll see you guys on our next podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode on the 2024 Global Runner Survey with Running USA's Director of Operations, Michael Clemons. You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website, RaceDirectorsHQ.com. You can also share your thoughts about some of the things discussed in today's episode or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub. Many thanks again to our awesome podcast sponsors, RunSignup and Brooksee for sponsoring today's episode. And if you'd like to learn more about these two amazing companies, head to runsignup.com, where you'll find just about everything you could possibly need to set up your race for success, including industry-leading registration tools, a professional free race website, free email marketing tools and tons more. And don't forget to check out Brooksee's new innovative Laurel timing technology, giving you real-time tracking of participants and a Virtual Command Center for your race, by visiting brooksee.com/headstart where you can also get a massive 50% off your first booking. Until our next episode, take care and keep putting on amazing races.