USA Marathoning: 2004 Overview
By MarathonGuide.com Staff

Our passion at MarathonGuide.com is finding and providing information about marathoning and marathoners – and we’re obsessive about it. Here we present our third annual definitive summary of the USA marathoning environment: the growth in marathoning, the biggest marathons, the demographics. We know that there is no other source this comprehensive, so here it is, our summary of marathoning in the USA in 2004.

2004 Total USA Marathon Finishers
Wow! There was an 8.1% growth in the number of marathon finishers from 2003 to 2004, with a total of over 361,000 people completing a marathon in the USA in 2004 – up from approximately 334,000 in 2003. The number of male finishers increased by 7.3%, while the number of female finishers grew by 9%, narrowing the gender gap to 60.5% men and 39.5% women. In total, we know of 302 marathons that took place in the USA in 2004, up from an estimated 282 in 2003.

2004 Largest USA Marathons
New York further solidified its status as the largest U.S. marathon, adding nearly 1,800 additional finishers in 2004 (as many finishers as the 35th largest marathon had in total!) and fending off any and all competitors for that title. In general, most of the largest marathons in this country maintained their size-ranked position with some small shuffling of position. Of special note was the addition of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon, an inaugural event, to the top 10. The country’s 25 largest marathons (shown below), accounted for more than 65% of total marathon finishers in the USA, but… in 2003 the top 25 marathons accounted for more than 70% of total finishers, so we’re seeing more finishers, more races and more finishers in more races…

Overall Demographics

	Percent	Age	Time
Men	60.5%	40.5	4:31:46
Women	39.5%	36.1	5:06:46
All Runners	100%	38.8	4:45:22

Fastest Age Groups
The fastest times, on average, run by men in 2004 came from runners between the ages of 40-44, with a mean finishing time of 4:21:46, just beating out the men 35-39 (4:22:04).
The women’s fastest times were posted by 20-24-year olds, who averaged a time of 4:51:50 for their finishes.

Largest Age Groups
Men aged 40-44 also represented the largest single age group for marathon runners in 2004, more than 10% of all marathoners and nearly 17% of male marathoners.
For women, the largest group was females between ages 25-29 representing over 7.25% of all marathon finishers, and over 18.25% of all female finishers.

Marathon Name	2004 Finishers	2004 Rank	2003 Rank	Growth 2003 to 2004
New York City Marathon	36513	1	1	5.14%
Chicago Marathon	33033	2	2	1.97%
Honolulu Marathon	22407	3	3	1.22%
City of Los Angeles Marathon	17306	4	5	3.09%
Boston Marathon	16743	5	4	-1.78%
Marine Corps Marathon	16379	6	7	2.64%
Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon	16369	7	6	1.14%
Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon	9482	8	N/A 2004 inaugural
Disney World Marathon	9371	9	8	-0.35%
Twin Cities Marathon	7304	10	9	3.11%
Grandma’s Marathon	6750	11	11	-1.72%
Philadelphia Marathon	6193	12	13	15.67%
Portland Marathon	5838	13	10	-16.97%
Houston Marathon	5383	14	14	14.56%
Freescale Austin Marathon	5238	15	12	-2.28%
St. George Marathon	4587	16	15	3.47%
Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon	4348	17	17	13.67%
Columbus Marathon	4310	18	16	7.94%
Country Music Marathon	4033	19	19	29.06%
Detroit Free Press Marathon	3514	20	23	26.49%
Richmond Marathon	3211	21	22	15.50%
Dallas White Rock Marathon	3171	22	18	-5.91%
California International Marathon	2963	23	20	1.13%
Big Sur International Marathon	2858	24	21	1.35%
San Francisco Chronicle Marathon	2665	25	30	40.93%

2004 Largest Inaugural USA Marathons
There were approximately 23 inaugural marathons in 2004, most small, but there were some notable exceptions. Inaugural marathons of note for 2004 included the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon which handily led the pack of newcomers, with almost 9,500 finishers; the Salt Lake City Marathon with 2,622 finishers; and the predominantly female Nike 26.2 with 2,372 finishers. The inaugurals, by themselves accounted for about 50% of the growth in finishers, helping to attract new runners to the sport!