by Larry EderIn the Spring 2010 issue of Club Running magazine, a question was asked of the RRCA members (on www.rrca.org): How Many running events do you plan to enter in 2010?
The results (with 801 total votes) are, obviously not scientific, but give a remarkably realistic view of why our sport is so healthy:
a. 17 percent answered, “I will be running my first event in 2010”.
b. 26 percent answered, “0-5 running events planned.”
c. 34 percent answered, ” 6-14 running events planned.”
d. 15 percent answered, ” 15-30 running events planned.”
e. 8 percent answered, ” 30 running events planned.”
Nice to see robust group of first timers. That shows health in our sport. 43 percent are in the newbies to five events. That shows much of what we think: new runners, runners who race 1-4 races a year make up a sizable portion of our sport.
57 percent answered in the 6-30 events (average of that group, 15 events).
Most of the regional and core running titles survey that their readers race 11-14 times per year, so this makes sense.
RRCA has surpassed 1,300 clubs and over 200,000 individual members. Their grass root races, over six thousand, give runners of all shapes and sizes a chance to do something besides their daily runs.
For more on the RRCA, please email execdir@rrca.org.
On May 1, you will be able to check out www.clubrunning.net.
For more on the sport, please click on www.runningnetwork.com.
