READING Half Marathon is among the top trending half marathons this year, new figures show.
Shoe retailer SportsShoes.com has released its annual Running Report revealing the competitive races that are growing the most in popularity.
It analysed Google search data for over 100 races in the UK and globally to identify the top trending running events for 2025.
SportsShoes examined the annual global Google search data for Jan-Dec 2023, compared with Jan-Dec 2024 to reveal the trending races for 2025.
For half-marathons, UK Google data only was used, and for Marathons and Ultramarathons global Google data was used.
Bristol Half was ranked first in increase of interest, which has nearly doubled for the event year-on-year.
Liverpool ranked second, followed by Manchester in third and London Landmarks in fourth.
Reading ranked fifth, with a year-on-year rise in interest of 61%.
Leeds, Bournemouth, and Cheltenham followed in sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively, with Richmond in ninth, and Edinburgh rounding out the top ten.
The report shows some disparity between genders– last year’s report found that 70% of marathon participants were male, compared to 30% who were female.
This year the gender gap has narrowed, with men making up 60% and women 40%.
This shift follows global trends, the report explains, with one example being the record-breaking 2025 London Marathon ballot, which saw a 2.6% rise in female entrants compared to 2024.
More information about the report is available via: sportsshoes.com/advice/running-hub/health-wellbeing/running-report
