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Health & fitness as a product is currently driving the Indian urban market. People
now are willing to spend a good amount of their disposable income towards gyms,
health devices like Fitbit and many more. The running events or rather the Marathon
events are slowly gaining popularity in India, especially in Metros. Not only
marathons but obstacle race like Devils Circuit are a huge success in India. Number
of professional runners in India who train themselves through out the year to
participate in Marathons is increasing by triple digit figures year on year.

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Our team at Townscript have done the research on India’s marathon market based on
our internal Data after working with four hundred plus running events & also the data
available online.

Over the last 3-4 years, we have been observing maximum participation for 5k & 10k
runs. 65% of the runs that happen in India are 10K or below. The amateur runners
usually undergo a slow transition from spectators to participants in the winter months
by calendar around the year, it is clear that the shorter runs are the money-spinners.
Out of 1000+ runs, there are 50 full marathons (42.195 km).

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 Trend across India
Running in India is still in its inception, and continues to be an urban phenomenon. More
and more trail marathons and destination small city half marathons / marathons like the
Auroville Marathon, Satara Hill Half Marathon have become extremely popular in
running community. Mumbai & Bangalore have seen enormous growth in running
events; close to nearly 150 events were organised in these cities last year. Mumbai
enjoys a geographical advantage by virtue of being a linear city (the running route is free
of monotonous loops) and can rightfully boast being the most popular marathon
destination in the country. Bihar, Arunachal are slowly picking up the marathon trend
by organizing 2 marathons last year.

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 Trend around the Quarter
2nd quarter (April – May) usually finds a dip in marathon events by 40% than the first
quarter because of the summer season.

After the dip in the 2nd quarter, the events rise by nearly 150% towards the end of the
final quarter. This behavior is majorly due to the weather support. 2ndQuarter brings
with itself a blissful summer which causes a lot of obstacle for runners on the field. So
all the Marathon organizers consider 2nd quarter as the planning phase for organizing
marathons events for the second half of the year.

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 Trend across Registration Fee

Note: We have taken into consideration the ticket price data analysis for years 2016, 2017 &
2018

1. 5K runs ticket prices is growing by nearly 12.5% every year

2. 10K runs ticket price is growing by nearly 16% every year
3. Half Marathons ticket price on average is increasing again by 12.5% every year
4. Full Marathons on the average increase their ticket price by nearly 20-22% every
year

Running events are slowly becoming a lifestyle status as compared to any other sporting
event. Coach Ravinder further illustrates this behavioral change in his statement
“Running is the new Golf” So yes, we can increase registration fee to INR 20,000 too if
people are willing to pay that much amount.

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Based on the changing trend in ticket price in last 3 years we calculated the lowest &
highest price range per ticket category for your reference. It’s further illustrated in the
table shown below:

Marathon Type Low Cap Mid Cap High Cap

(INR) (INR) (INR)

5K Run 100 300 500

10K Run 100 500 800

Half (21K) Marathon 800 1200 1500

Full (21K) Marathon 1000 1500 2500

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 Trend based on Gender type:

The ratio of “Male to Female” participants in the runs is usually 4:1. This ratio,
however, is a decreasing year on year based on active participation from women. We
have been observing an increased growth every year of female participants. Thanks to
organizers like Pinkathon, Womanathon who are taking huge initiatives in promoting
fitness awareness among women. They organize this marathon for various causes like;
ending violence against women, breast cancer etc.

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 How Marathons in India can change?
We at first require an umbrella body exclusively for Marathons. This body will be
responsible for suggesting training programmes specific to Indian conditions,
standardize diets for runners based on our eating habits for eg; have rice & chapatti
instead of pasta. India can become a running country only when 10-12% of the total
population incorporates running in there daily habits.

References:

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/hvQk1B9e2tzbETqWSHwo3L/Economics--Why-
running-is-good-business.html

http://indiarunning.com/half-marathons.html

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/travel/run-towards-a-better-future-a-
look-at-the-marathons-in-india/articleshow/62640343.cms

https://www.hindustantimes.com/other-sports/marathon-high-india-s-road-running-
culture-spawns-big-business/story-U4fjeFqUgmVumj9R0MXdOI.html