A Year In Sport With Strava
Running on the rise!
Last week Gear Labs joined Strava for Business for a morning of insights to review their 2024 ‘Year In Sport’ Trend Report presentation. It was fascinating to see the data collected by Strava from their now 135 million users. With the considerable rise of the run club, up by 59% of those now on Strava, it seems that running is leading the leader board for social sports being the fastest-growing on Strava!
It’s exciting to see how sport is becoming a place to meet like minded individuals, with 18% more runs being uploaded with groups of 10+, and 1 in 5 Gen Z stating they have been on a date with someone they met at a group fitness activity.
Gear Labs joins the morning run at the Strava A Year In Sport event!
Shorter workouts being more commonly uploaded than the ‘bigger-better-faster-all-the-time’ type, with the median activity duration being 53 minutes, with only 16% of people surveyed wanting to workout more than 60 minutes a day. Its always been said, if it isn’t on Strava it didn’t happen, and it seems the upload activity might agree!
Rest taking a priority was a pleasant surprise to see reflected in the data. 51% of days in the 16 weeks before a marathon were recorded as rest days, and for half marathons just 1/3rd were training days in the 16 weeks leading up to a race. It was also noted that the half marathon is great race distance to focus on if you’re looking to engage with a female audience. There's near equal participation at this distance in terms of the share of Strava runners who have uploaded a half marathon. 17% of male runners have uploaded a half marathon, with 16% of female runners following closely behind!
Looking in to gear, both on and off the bike, was also an interesting data point captured. The Apple Watch Series was the top tracking device for the run, with the Garmin Edge 530 being the top tracking cycling computer. Although most activities, 72%, were uploaded directly from the phone app, unless it was a race. With cycling Trek bikes led the way with the top choice of road bike, while Specialized was the top choice for gravel and mountain biking. It was also noted that colour co-ordinated outfits are the preferred choice with a 60% endorsement. The heated sock debate continues with a strong generational divide of 51% of Gen X approving no show or ankle socks, and 57% of Gen Z approving high or crew socks. This must be a running debate, we all know the correct height “may not rise above the height defined by half the distance between the middle of the lateral malleolus and the middle of the fibula head”. (Rule 1.3.033 UCI Technical Regulation).
Overall it was fascinating to see the data collected by Strava, to see the trends that were set in 2024, what equipment was favoured, and sports that are on the rise. A huge thank you to Strava for Business for the invite!
