They sleep when many are awake. And they get up early, at the time that the rest rest. They have a certain feeding and training routine. With cold, heat, rain, wind or humidity, regardless of the weather conditions, they get dressed, turn on the clock and music, and leave without a determined destination, on a one-way trip towards “happiness”, as they define themselves. .
They are those crazy people who run, perspire, get tired and leave until the last breath for their passion. Regardless of age or gender, there are hundreds, thousands. “We calculate that only in the City are more than 160,000 runners“, points out Gastón Busso, former Undersecretary of Sports of the CABA. “There are more and more people, especially young people and women,” he explains. Sebastián Tagle, from the Runners Club. Here comes a trend-setting fact: “15 years ago, the participation of women in races was 5%, while today it is 45%. And I estimate that in 5 years it will be 60%, surpassing men,” says Tagle. Gustavo Montes, director of Factor Runningcoincides with the diagnosis: “The growth curve of women is amazing”.
When no one expected it, the runner tide was strengthened during the pandemic. “Many young people knew or began to enjoy running at that time. Everyone will remember when they said ‘runners took to the streets…’ The reality was that those who practiced different sports (soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, etc.) and did not they were active, they went out to move together with those who traditionally did it. But, later, they continued practicing it and adapting it to their daily lives, in parallel to their usual sport”, says Tagle. And he rounds off: “When several young people began to see that their friends had the habit of going out for a run, they also accompanied.”
IN ACTION
Health, socialization and tourism are the aspects that the different referents of running mention as keys to a phenomenon that does not stop. “The running market has grown exponentially in recent years. As a result of the pandemic, it has increased even more, due to the need for people to start doing some physical activity. A lot of people, especially those over 40 , they began to run, walk or jog”, describes Rodolfo Giordano, director of Sportsfacilities. The race organizer does not doubt that “the number of public definitely grew”, and attributes this phenomenon to the impact of “the pandemic”.
“Today more value is given to everything that has to do with healthy living. That made many young people give importance to running. It opened a market for growth,” he says. mounts, who organizes the so-called “Urban Mile”, which took place on December 12. The competition went from having 2,000 people before the pandemic to overcoming the 3,000 barrier in its latest edition, with only 45 days of registration. “For this reason, I envision a favorable horizon for sporting events, an increase in the number of groups and people who go running, because there are even more ‘civilians’ who go out alone, to enjoy themselves and feel good,” says Montes.
From the business point of view, the stoppage did not go unnoticed for this item, as in other sectors of the economy. The closure of activities included the suspension of the races scheduled for 2020 and part of 2021. “In terms of the economic impact, it affected us, since our activity is massive, which made it unfeasible to carry out an event,” explains Giordano. At present, the panorama tends to normalize.
“There is a lot of competition on offer, which in some events decreased the amount of public,” he adds. Giordano.
RUN AND TRAVEL
Busso also focuses on the collateral economic benefit of running for the tourism industry. “People don’t just go running, they also go for walks,” he says. From his point of view, in recent years, running has been in a period of transformation. “Before, in CABA there were about 100 mass participation events, between running, rollers, and others, while today 45“, Explain.
The numbers are compelling. In 2010, the number of participants in a 10k was 2,200 runners, with a break-even point of 1,400. In 2019, registrations dropped to an average of 2,000, but 2,300 runners were needed “to get out done”. “There was an increase in organization expenses, which was not accompanied by the cost of registration”, admits Busso. On the other hand, “people prefer to go inside or outside to participate in competitions that have other distances, terrain and scenarios. We cannot forget the phenomenon of trail running, given that Argentina is a benchmark in Latin America for this specialty”, he maintains.
The landing of race organizers in the rest of the country had a lot to do with this. “From Buenos Aires they went to work in the interior. Thus, the number of competitions and registrations grew, as the quality of the events improved. Do not forget that there are marathons or 21k in cities like Mar del Plata or Rosario with many participants”, closes Busso. The runner tide does not stop. Running is already another passion of crowds.
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by Marcelo Alfano
