Is Gen Z driving the recent running boom?

 

When I started road running regularly in the early nineties, the sport was booming. There was an organised race almost every weekend with no shortage of competitors.

About five years later numbers started to dwindle when road cycling, mountain biking and triathlons became more popular. That’s not to say the die-hard road running community abandoned running. It was more those reluctant runners on the fringes that likely switched to other sports, finding them not nearly as hard on their legs.

Now, almost 30 years later, road running is booming again and it seems that Gen Z are driving it. According to Megan Howe in The Standard, “running is the new clubbing” for young people. Whether it’s to stay active, improve their mental wellbeing, create friendships, or to cut costs on expensive gym memberships, Gen Z is certainly making their mark in the running world.

So why is running so popular with Gen Z?

Avid runner, Tom Horn, writer of the Saving Gen Z Substack is of the opinion that as Gen Z are drinking much less, going out is a less important part of life post-pandemic. People are looking for more meaningful ways of creating connections by sharing interests, not sharing drinks.

Running is the perfect activity for them. It’s cheap and they don’t need to invest in any specialist gear or learn a new skill. They can just pick up their running shoes and go whenever and wherever they like. The simplicity of that is very appealing at a time when so much of life is getting more complicated.

Running events are reaping the rewards, with races like the Two Oceans Marathon having an overwhelming demand for entries in their ballot and the Comrades Marathon having a record amount of competitors for their 2025 down run. This trend is not only in South Africa, but is also happening abroad with events such as the TCS London Marathon recording a staggering 105% increase in entries for 20-29-year-olds, and the ballot for the 18th annual Royal Parks Half Marathon set a new record this year, attracting their highest number of entrants – a 35% increase compared to 2024. Other events, such as The Bath Half Marathon and the Brighton Marathon have sold out their entries in record time.

For Gen Z, taking part in races is a way of measuring their progress and act as goals to strive for. With an event looming, they are forced to be disciplined and stay focussed, especially as they want to show off their success on social media – an essential requirement for any Gen Z. Added to this are the running influencers on Tik Tok and Instagram that make it look cool, relatable and real.

Then of course there are apps like Strava, which are driving the running boom by turning running into a social, competitive, and trackable experience.

According to the app’s most recent data, 66% of Gen Z have made new friends through a fitness group in the last year, with 55% saying their top reason for this was to form social connections. One in five even went on a date with someone they met at a group activity.

Interestingly, 96% of Strava’s Gen Z users said they would consider reducing their alcohol intake in order to achieve their fitness goals. This is definitely true of my son and his friends, who are all Gen Z and avid runners and now celebrate their birthdays by competing in a race together and going for breakfast afterwards. Certainly a far more healthy way to celebrate than a wild night on the town clubbing and drinking up a storm.

Gen Zs are also very brand orientated and running gives them the opportunity to wear the trendy brands and show them off on social media. Active brands like Nike, Adidas and the popular South African Burnt brand have caught on to this, and are investing in the running scene, organising community events and fostering a growing running culture.

All these factors are driving the huge shift in Gen Z’s priorities. It not just about fitness anymore, running is becoming a lifestyle, a social identity and even a form of self-expression.
 

What do you need help with as an event organiser? If there is an area of organising you would like to know more about, send a mail to tim@finishtime.co.za and we will see if we can find some info for you.

Words To Live By ...

“An event is not just a gathering,

it's a memory in the making.”

– Unknown

Advantages of using FinishTime

There are many advantages to using FinishTime to time your event, but one that is often overlooked is the added value that FinishTime offers your entrants, over and above an accurate time.

When finishers search for their time (available seconds after they cross the line), if they click on their name, it takes them to a screen with detailed information about their race. It not only gives them the basics like their time, category and gender positions, it can also give official split times as well as their overall, category and gender position at each split. These splits are updated in almost real time.

There is also a link to Whatsapp the information, either to themselves or a third party, share it on X or print a finishers’ certificate. Dependent on the organisers' requirements, the finishers’ certificate can display name, official time and the name and date of the race as well as other information. This is a wonderful tool for those entrants that want to show off their achievement on social media, or for those that just want a record of the event and the time they achieved.

There is also a button on the page with a link which takes them to where they can view their event photos taken by the official race photographers and sometimes a video of the athlete crossing the line, or passing split points.

The beauty of this system is that your entrants are able to find all the post-race information they need all in one place as soon as they cross the line.

"The Best Laid Plans"

Marking a course for any event is of the utmost importance. Competitors taking a wrong turn and getting lost will definitely mar even the best-organized and popular event. That is why the organisers of a 10 km event in Glasgow were not happy when a prankster decided it would be a laugh to send runners in the wrong direction.

Even though there were 22 race marshals positioned at several of the more difficult turning points on the route, there was one un-marshalled point, where the race organisers had securely put an arrow on a tree.

The prankster took advantage of this, ripped the arrow off the tree and buried it beneath leaves and branches. He then impersonated a race organizer and sent about 30 competitors on a 2.5 km detour away from the 10km course.

According to one of the race organisers: "It wasn't an easy course, there were a lot of dips and hills, so the people who managed an extra couple of kilometres were quite impressive. It could have been the longest run ever for some folk.” This “route change” caused chaos and at one stage, runners were approaching the finish line from three different directions!

The race organisers said competitors were mostly "good about it" but they would look at increased marshals for their next event in the park next month.

They apologised to competitors for the "mischievous interference" and offered affected runners a discount on entry to their next event.
 

Do you have an unusual, wild, whacky or funny story about event organising? If so, send it to tim@finishtime.co.za (max 300 words please).