Social media has motivated Australia to run as the online running club trend begins to increase participant numbers at official events, with The Sydney Marathon selling out this year with 24,000 runners.
Race Director, Wayn Larden has overseen The Sydney Marathon since 2005.
“A big change in recent years has been the digital era and how we engage with runners,” Mr Larden said.
The Sydney Marathon signed up to become an Abbott World Marathon Major in 2022 using digital marketing to increase popularity around the event.
“We are seeing huge popularity in community run clubs… we believe these trends are having significant impact,” Mr Larden said.
Wollongong has several local run clubs, the ‘Never Lazy Run Club’ having a total of 2k followers on Instagram, proving that it is among the popular clubs
Never Lazy Run Club spokesperson, Dylan Gall said the club was founded in 2019, before the movement became huge.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in popularity mostly due to social media’s influence on running at the moment,” Mr Gall said.
The club has a social aspect, as well as a harder climb for those who want to go further than 5 kilometres, with a range of social runs, track meets and long run options on offer each week.
The ‘big boom’ in running has been consistent in the last 12 months. Before 2023 Australia averaged around 25 thousand people across the country participating in a marathon event.
The Sydney Marathon has been running since 2001 in legacy of the 2000 Olympics but hasn’t had a large group of participants until recently.
“In 2023, we saw a massive increase in first-time marathon runners with 48% of the field doing their first marathon. This is encouraging as it means we are reaching new audiences.”
Mr Gall and Mr Larden strategically use social media to interact with their audience and they claim this has increased numbers.
The waitlist to join the 2024 Sydney Marathon is closed, as numbers are at capacity.