Running Survey Report 2025

Running Experience Survey Report Welcome to the 2025 Running Experience Survey (RXS) Report. The RXS research project provides a snapshot of running behaviours and attitudes across a wide range of topics, with a particular emphasis on race participation. It was designed, promoted and analysed by Neil Baxter, an independent sociologist and specialist in running culture.

Scenes from the history of sprinting: Hammersmith 1844

A race for the championship of the world On a late September afternoon in 1844, a large and noisy crowd gathered on the turnpike road in Hammersmith, then just outside London, close to the Seven Stars Inn. They were a motley crew that spanned the social spectrum and many had travelled great distances to be

History’s forgotten 4-minute milers

Until recently I was sure I knew who the first person to break the four minute mile was. Roger Bannister’s achievement on a blustery Oxford afternoon in 1954 has, after all, gone down in the folklore of our sport. But was he really the first? I thought so, until I came across some research by

The first marathon woman

Today it seems almost unbelievable that it took until 1984 before a women’s marathon was included in the Olympic programme, but from the first modern Games in 1896 until then, only men were allowed to compete at the classic distance. That’s not to say that during these wilderness years there weren’t many women racing in

Are women really less competitive than men?

Taken at face value, the data from my Big Running Survey suggests that women runners are significantly less competitive than men. Only 16% of the women surveyed reported a strong motivation to do well in races compared to 30% of men. And taking part in races – one potential measure of a competitive leaning – was