Athletics Half a million finishers in Swiss running

SDA

30.1.2025 - 11:53

The Bern GP attracted professional and amateur athletes in 2024
The Bern GP attracted professional and amateur athletes in 2024
Keystone

The Swiss running scene has recovered from the coronavirus pandemic and is experiencing a boom. In 2024, more than half a million finishers took part in around 520 running events.

Keystone-SDA

This figure is reported by the Swiss Runners association. The organization includes 58 running events. In 2024, growth was around 10 percent compared to 2023. And the registration figures for 2025 also suggest that the boom will continue.

Large city events in particular have already exceeded the 2019 finisher figures thanks to new categories and the influx of new target groups. The Escalade in Geneva at the beginning of December leads the rankings, with 57,183 registrations and 47,878 finishers. In German-speaking Switzerland, the GP Bern is the leader (27,251 finishers).

Anniversary events such as the Hallwilersee Run (50 years) with over 10,000 registrations (78% more than in the previous year) and the Murten Run (90 years) with 14,472 (up 33% compared to 2023) also benefited from the trend towards lacing up running shoes again.

In general, the registration figures for longer distances developed particularly positively. This trend was already apparent in the previous year. At the five major Swiss marathons in Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne and the Jungfrau Marathon, there were 15 percent more finishers (12,513 people) over 42.195 km in 2024 than in the previous year and 20 percent more than in 2019.