2012-2021 Overview
Community and Youth Engagement
As a nonprofit organization, we pride ourselves on giving back to our community through a variety of events supporting worthy causes and local youth.
Community
Our community of passionate people inspire each other to reach their goals everyday. We host two weekly run clubs on Mondays and Saturdays, which aim to motivate people to run consistently and stay involved in our community. Beyond the events and races that we host, run club members have a group of training partners. Most importantly, every runner that interacts with Boston Road Runners becomes a friend. Our run clubs are free, consistent, and open to all. Everyone is welcomed with open arms, regardless of ability or experience.We have six ambassadors that help make this supportive environment possible. BRR ambassadors are energetic leaders that represent our organization and encapsulate our mission. They inspire our runners, such as through motivational posts on social media of their own running pursuits.
Because our community gives so much to us, we love giving back in any way we can. We partner with several nonprofits and assist these organizations with putting on road races in order to raise money for a cause they care about. One of our partners is the MataHari Womens’ Workers Center; we fundraise for their efforts towards social justice. We also use our platform to raise awareness for other causes, as seen through races like our Run for Suicide Prevention and International Women’s Run. By helping these nonprofits organize running events, we not only fundraise for important causes, but we help bring our community together and raise awareness for critical issues.
“BRR is an excellent organization! When I first came to Boston as a freshman in pharmacy school I struggled with finding a group that I really connected with and with running accountability! BRR has given me some of the best couple of years of my life here in Boston and I am grateful for the new friends and good times!” - Leah Cherry, BRR Ambassador
“Running has always been my passion, and with BRR it’s a way to share my passion with others! It’s a friendly and non-judgmental community of folks who love running.” - Mae Gillaud, BRR Ambassador
Youth
We want to encourage kids to run to help them stay active and learn how fun exercising can be. To make this happen, all of our road races have discounts for runners aged 18 and under. We also put on special community youth races. All expenses are paid for by BRR and are free for our youth runners. In 2019, we partnered with Mendell Elementary School of Boston Public Schools to host the Mendell Mile. This untimed race invited children in grades 1-5 to run 1 mile. We had a total of 206 children running at this event alone. It is our goal to make all of our events free for our youth runners in the future.
Beyond the events we host, we partnered with local youth programs at the end of 2019 such as: ChildObesity180, Girls on the Run, Boys & Girls Club, Title IX Girls, and Road to the Right Track. These partnerships help drive youth engagement in all of our races, inspire children to be active, and support the work these organizations do.
Run Club Community
Our weekly run clubs are the heart of the Boston Road Runners community. The Boston Road Runners run clubs, hosted on Mondays and Saturdays, are free and open to people of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds. We also host special run club events. Like our run clubs, these races are free and open to everyone. The majority of participants are run club members, however, because the races occur at the same date, time, and location of our run clubs.
We seek to foster a community of inclusion and enthusiasm and are always looking for new members to join and contribute to our community. Our run club promotes solidarity among runners who are like-minded in their running goals and who can help each other grow as athletes, leaders, and community members.
Participants in the run club are primarily female (68%). The median age of runners is 29 years old. The majority of runners are between 19 and 39 years old, making up 86% of participants. However, we have runners between 18 to 79 years of age. There is a place for everyone at Boston Road Runners.
Of our Massachusetts runners, about 74% live in one of four major cities: Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brighton, or Brookline.
Run Club Participation
Throughout all years, Boston Road Runners inspired 2,925 people to run. 2,486 (85%) of these individuals participated in our 11 special events such as seasonal races and other competitive events.
Year 2018 had the most participants (63%) with an overwhelming population of females (70%). Majority of participants fell between the age group of 19-29 (79%) pulling them towards the younger side. Year 2018 also had the most population in the age group 60+ (58%) out of all years.
Run Club Sex Distribution
Constant throughout all years, the female participation takes over the majority with an overwhelming 69%.
For all years, there were more female participation than male participation. Years 2012-2015 had less than 70% female, year 2016 had 72% female, year 2018 had 70% female, year 2019 had 68% female, year 2020 had 56% female and so far this year we have 82% female. Year 2017 has no data because there were no recorded data of run club events.
Run Club Age Distribution
Runners of all ages came to run with us in all years, ranging from ages 6 to 90 years old. Most of our runners are between 19 and 29 years old, with 69% of runners falling into this age group. We also saw many runners in their 30s, with 17% of runners falling between 30 and 39 years of age.
Races
Like run clubs, races are free and open to everyone. The majority of participants are run club members, however, because the races occur at the same date, time, and location of our run clubs.
Compared to run clubs, participants in races are primarily female (61%). The median age of runners is also 29 years old. The majority of runners are between 19 and 39 years old, making up 53% of participants. However, we have runners between 18 to 79 years of age. There is a place for everyone at Boston Road Runners.
Of our Massachusetts runners, about 68% live in one of four major cities: Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brighton, or Brookline.
Year 2017 had the most participants (23%) with an overwhelming population of females (67%). Majority of participants fell between the age group of 19-29 (29%) followed by the age group of 30-39 (24%). Combined they make up more than 50% of participants in 2017 which indicates our participants leans towards the younger side.
Races Sex Distribution
Constant throughout all years, the female participation takes over the majority with an overwhelming 61%.
For all years from 2014, there were more female participation than male participation. Years 2012 and 2013 had 50/50 female to male participation. In year 2014, there were 63% female participation, year 2015 had 63%, year 2016 had 61%, year 2017 had 67%, year 2018 had 55%, year 2019 had 53%, year 2020 had 63%, and this year 2021 we currently have 76% female participation. The graph below follows a bell-curve.
The ratio of female to male participation remains fairly constant throughout all years. As the yearly population increases per year, the proportion intensifies the overwhelming female participation.
Races Age Distribution
Runners of all ages came to run with us in all years, ranging from ages 5 to 79 years old. Most of our runners are between 19 and 29 years old, with 30% of runners falling into this age group. We also saw many runners in their 30s, with 23% of runners falling between 30 and 39 years of age. There were 5% of participants that prefer not to say.
Yearly Comparisons
Throughout the years, there was a consistent right skew in age distribution which demonstrates that most of the participants leaned towards the younger side with the age group of 19-29 being the highest population. However, this trend stopped in year 2020 in effect of the COVID-19 impact. This transitioned the right skew into a consistent bell curve.
Partners
Thank you to everyone who makes Boston Road Runners possible, including our runners, volunteers, donors, and sponsors! We are very grateful that we are able to continue to grow our community. We love our runners and the positive impact that we are able to make on their lives. All of us at Boston Road Runners are so thankful for the support from sponsors and partners that allows us to do what we do.
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