RunSignup's 2026 Midyear RaceTrends Update has confirmed what organisers on the ground have been reporting all season: road and trail race participation across the United States is continuing to grow. The registration platform, which processes roughly 60 percent of the US endurance market, analysed 6.9 million registrations between 1 December 2025 and 31 May 2026 and found per-race participation up 5.9 percent year-on-year.
Registration revenue grew even faster than headcount, rising 9.9 percent per race over the same period, a sign that runners are not just showing up in greater numbers but paying more for the experience. Race directors have pointed to richer event-day offerings, expanded finisher perks and premium wave options as factors behind the revenue growth outpacing participation growth.
Women continued to make up the majority of registrants, accounting for 53.2 percent of sign-ups in the first half of 2026. Other industry datasets put recreational running closer to gender parity overall, but the RunSignup figures, drawn specifically from race-day registrations rather than general participation surveys, point to women driving a disproportionate share of the sport's organised-event growth.
The report also flagged a generational shift beneath the headline numbers: the 20-24 age group is approaching near gender parity at the start line, a trend RunSignup's analysts linked to the wider boom in community-led training groups and run clubs. That boom was itself the subject of a Strava report earlier this year showing run club creation up 3.5 times year-on-year, with Gen Z runners citing social connection as their primary motivation for joining organised events.
Taken together, the two datasets sketch a picture of a sport whose growth is increasingly driven by community and accessibility rather than elite competition alone. With registration revenue climbing and younger, more gender-balanced fields showing up at start lines across the country, race organisers are entering the second half of 2026 with some of the strongest tailwinds the industry has seen in years.