Virtual Race Participation Statistics 2026

Seventy-three percent of runners participated in a virtual race in 2020, with an average of four events each. Virtual events made up 33.4% of all race events in 2020, up from just 2.8% in 2019. By 2025, virtual events had stabilized at 7.1% of all race events - a permanent niche above pre-pandemic levels. Sixty-five percent of virtual race participants are women, compared to 55% in-person, and 56% are over 40. These 15 statistics trace the arc of virtual race participation from pandemic necessity to established format.

Virtual races emerged as a necessity in 2020 and became something unexpected: a permanent format that reached runners the traditional race calendar never had. The demographics of virtual race participants reveal exactly who that format serves - older runners, women, and people for whom the logistics of race-day events create barriers. Post-pandemic, virtual races have found their level: a small but stable share of the event market that sits above pre-2020 norms.

This post covers 15 verified statistics on virtual race participation - the pandemic peak, the post-pandemic stabilization, the demographic profile of virtual runners, and what the data shows about who continues to participate in virtual events and why.

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1. 73% of Runners Entered a Virtual Race in 2020

Seventy-three percent of runners participated in at least one virtual race during 2020, averaging four virtual events each. The figure, from a 2020 survey of the running community, reflects the sudden and dramatic shift that race cancellations produced: runners who had been training for spring marathons found themselves redirected into virtual formats overnight. The pandemic created the largest single-year trial of virtual racing in the sport's history, introducing millions of runners to a format many had never considered.

Source: PMC - Running Races During COVID-19: 2020 Survey

2. Virtual Events Made Up 33.4% of All Races in 2020

Virtual races made up 33.4% of all events in 2020, up from just 2.8% in 2019 - an eleven-fold increase in a single year. Virtual challenges (multi-activity events with longer-term goals) added another 6.3% of the 2020 event mix. The 2019 baseline of 2.8% represents the pre-pandemic market equilibrium, where virtual races served a niche audience of runners who could not travel or preferred the flexibility. The explosion to 33.4% was forced by circumstance, but it created an infrastructure - platforms, timing systems, result submission tools - that did not exist at scale before 2020.

Source: RunSignup - Who Are the Virtual Runners?

3. Virtual Events Stabilized at 7.1% of All Race Events in 2025

By 2025, virtual events had stabilized at 7.1% of all race events on RunSignup's platform, according to the 2025 RaceTrends Report covering 97,000+ events and 12.2 million registrations. The 7.1% figure sits above the 2.8% pre-pandemic baseline, confirming that virtual racing did not simply retreat to its previous niche after in-person events reopened. Some runners who discovered the format during 2020 stayed with it. Race directors who built virtual infrastructure kept it running. The result is a post-pandemic normal where virtual is a small but permanent feature of the event landscape.

Source: RunSignup - The State of the Industry: 2025 Race Trends Report

4. Virtual Participant Share Is About 3% of Total Race Participants in 2025

While 7.1% of events in 2025 are virtual, only about 3% of total race participants choose virtual formats. The gap between event share and participant share reflects the smaller field sizes typical of virtual races: in-person events still draw the majority of runners and produce the largest competitive fields. The 3% participant figure represents a floor established by runners for whom virtual is the preferred or only viable format - not a temporary accommodation but a genuine preference based on schedule flexibility, geographic access, or health constraints.

Source: RunSignup - The State of the Industry: 2025 Race Trends Report

5. 65% of Virtual Race Participants Are Women

Women made up 65% of virtual race participants in 2020, compared to 55% of in-person participants. In the pre-pandemic years of 2016-2019, 72-75% of virtual runners were women. The consistent female majority in virtual race participation reflects the format's flexibility advantages: virtual races accommodate the caregiving responsibilities and scheduling constraints that disproportionately fall on women. The format lets a runner complete a race distance at 5:30 AM before the house wakes up or during a lunch break, without coordinating transportation to a race site.

Source: RunSignup - Who Are the Virtual Runners?

6. 56% of Virtual Race Participants Are Over 40

Fifty-six percent of virtual challenge participants and 53% of virtual race participants were over 40, compared to 46% for in-person events. The older skew of virtual race demographics reflects the schedule flexibility and lower physical-environment barriers that the format offers. Older runners are more likely to face constraints - joint issues that make cold-weather racing uncomfortable, work schedules that conflict with race-day logistics, or geographic distance from major events. Virtual races remove those barriers while preserving the motivation of a structured goal with a completion condition.

Source: RunSignup - Who Are the Virtual Runners?

7. US In-Person Race Participation Hit 432,562 Marathon Finishers in 2024

Marathon participation in the United States reached 432,562 finishers in 2024, a 5% increase and just 12.8% below the all-time high from 2014, according to RunRepeat's State of US Marathons 2025. The in-person marathon's strong recovery is relevant to virtual race statistics because it defines the baseline against which virtual formats compete for the attention of serious runners. The fact that in-person participation is recovering strongly while virtual maintains a 7.1% event share suggests the two formats are serving different segments - virtual is not a substitute for the in-person race experience but a complement for runners who need it.

Source: RunRepeat - The State of US Marathons 2025

8. In-Person Race Participation Grew 8.2% Per Event in 2024

Races grew an average of 8.2% per event in 2024, following 11% growth in 2023, based on RunSignup data covering 85,000+ events and 10.8 million registrations. The consecutive years of strong in-person growth confirm that virtual racing's post-pandemic normalization did not cannibalize traditional events. Both formats grew after 2020 - in-person strongly, virtual modestly - as the market segmented between runners who want the race-day atmosphere and those who want the format's flexibility. The parallel growth demonstrates that virtual racing expanded the total participation pie rather than redistributing slices.

Source: RunSignup 2024 RaceTrends Report

9. US Running Participation Topped 50 Million in 2024

Running and jogging surpassed 50 million participants in the United States in 2024, according to SFIA data. This figure represents the full participant pool from which virtual race events draw. The 3% virtual participant share represents approximately 1.5 million runners who chose virtual formats - a meaningful absolute number even as a small relative share. As the total participant base grows, the absolute size of the virtual race audience grows proportionally, creating sustainable event economics for platforms and race directors who specialize in virtual formats.

Source: SFIA - Topline Participation Report 2024

10. The Global Endurance Sports Event Market Reached $11.2 Billion in 2024

The global endurance sports event market reached USD 11.2 billion in 2024, with projections to reach USD 21.1 billion by 2033 at a CAGR of 8.3%. The broader market context matters for virtual racing because virtual events sit within this total addressable market. As the endurance market grows, event organizers have more commercial incentive to offer virtual options that serve runners who cannot attend in person. The market growth also funds the technology infrastructure - GPS result verification, online timing platforms, medal fulfillment logistics - that makes virtual racing viable at scale.

Source: DataIntelo - Endurance Sports Event Market Research Report 2033

11. Running Grew 65% During the Pandemic Peak in 2020

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, there was a 65% increase in running and jogging activities, and users logged an average of 37.3% more miles. The surge in general running created the participant base that drove virtual race adoption: people who started running during lockdowns needed goals to train toward, and virtual races were the only structured race option available. Some portion of the runners who started in 2020 became permanent runners - RunRepeat's data found that 28.76% of current runners started during the pandemic - which expanded the long-term virtual race audience.

Source: RunRepeat - New Pandemic Runners

12. 61% of Runners Plan to Enter at Least One Event in 2026

Sixty-one percent of runners said they are considering entering an event in 2026, according to Running Industry Alliance's National Running Report. The forward intention data suggests continued strong event participation appetite among active runners. For virtual race organizers, the 61% planning to enter events includes runners for whom a virtual format may be the most viable option - those with irregular schedules, caregiving responsibilities, geographic isolation from major races, or health conditions that make race-day environments difficult.

Source: Running Industry Alliance - National Running Report 2024

13. Race Churn Reached a Record Low 3.1% in 2025

Just 3.1% of 2024 races with 500+ participants did not return in 2025, the lowest churn rate RunSignup has recorded since it began tracking the metric in 2018. The low churn applies primarily to in-person events, but it reflects a market where runners are reliably returning to the same events year after year. For virtual races, the equivalent metric is re-participation: whether runners who complete a virtual event sign up for another. The market stability suggests that both in-person and virtual formats have found audiences that renew consistently.

Source: RunSignup - The State of the Industry: 2025 Race Trends Report

14. Virtual Runners Are Newer to the Sport and Less Competitively Oriented

RunSignup's demographic research on virtual runners found that virtual challenge participants are often newer to the sport, do not consider themselves to be competitive athletes, or are uninterested in the competitive environment of race day. They seek a challenge and a way to stay active without the pressure of a timed public course. This profile distinguishes the virtual race audience from the in-person race audience and explains why the two formats coexist without significant cannibalization: they serve different motivational profiles and different stages of a running journey.

Source: RunSignup - Who Are the Virtual Runners?

15. Virtual Races Were Offered by More Race Directors in 2025 Than Pre-Pandemic

Races continue to offer more virtual options than they did pre-pandemic, even as overall virtual participation has declined from pandemic peaks. The infrastructure investment race directors made in 2020 - result submission systems, virtual medal fulfillment, online leaderboards - created capabilities that remained useful as a supplemental offering after in-person events resumed. For runners, this means the virtual race ecosystem is more stable and better-organized in 2025 than it was in 2019, with more events, better technology, and more experience on the part of organizers in running virtual formats well.

Source: RunSignup - The State of the Industry: 2025 Race Trends Report

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What These Numbers Tell Runners

The virtual race story follows a classic adoption curve: pandemic-forced trial at massive scale, retreat from the extreme peak, and stabilization at a level that sits above the pre-pandemic baseline. The 2.8% to 33.4% to 7.1% arc is almost exactly what behavioral adoption research would predict for a format introduced by necessity to a large population - a subset of that population discovers genuine value and stays, even after the necessity disappears.

The demographic data reveals who that subset is. Virtual race participants skew older, skew female, and skew toward runners who are newer to the sport or less interested in competitive race-day environments. These are not runners who prefer virtual because they want something easier - RunRepeat's research shows that new pandemic runners became genuine long-term runners. They are runners for whom the flexibility, accessibility, and lower logistical burden of a virtual format removes real barriers.

The growth trajectory of in-person racing does not signal the end of virtual formats - it signals their maturing into a complementary role. As our running challenge statistics and road race statistics show, the race participation market is growing in total, and virtual formats are adding runners who would not otherwise participate in the structured event ecosystem at all.

Virtual racing did not replace the race - it found the runners the race could not reach, and a meaningful fraction of them stayed.

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