Marathon participation is on the increase with major marathons seeing a phenomenal rise in registrations. In 2024 the Paris Marathon set a record of 54,175, which was surpassed by two of the Abbott majors a few months later—Berlin (54,280) and New York (55,646). London, not to be outdone, is predicting they will have over 56,000 when runners hit the streets on April 27. This would be 5,000 more than they had in 2024.
According to SportShoes.com’s recent running report this trend is likely to increase with many more 2025 races predicted to surpass previous totals. They list the world’s top 20 trending marathons from stats gathered from those either training or having participated. The top three are:
- Beijing, China – 386 per cent increase
- Shanghai, China – 126 per cent increase
- Nagoya Women’s, Japan – 104 per cent increase
Spain has four marathons in the top 20, but surprisingly North America is represented by just one—Canada’s Ottawa Marathon in 15th place, with a predicted 52 per cent increase.
Source: https://www.sportsshoes.com/advice/running-hub/health-wellbeing/running-report.
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