Did the Half Marathon Hurt the Pioneer Day Run?

2013 marked the first time that the Deseret News Classic offered a half marathon.  In prior years, the only choices for a timed run were a 10K or a full marathon.  The addition of a half to the program filled a big gap in distance options.

The thing that I wondered was this:  what was the impact on the other races caused by the addition of the new race?

Number of Finishers

Year	Full Marathon	Half	10K		Total
2009	493		2264		2757
2010	564		2343		2907
2011	500		1839		2339
2012	544		1944		2488
2013	428	903	1151		2482

The total number of finishers in the three races this year was 2,482. While, that number is a far cry from the nearly 3,000 finishers back in 2010, it's almost identical to the number from last year, 2,488, and almost 150 more than the number of finishers from 2011.

I don't know what caused the big drop-off after 2010, but it looks like it all came out of the 10K race. The addition of the Half this year seems to have taken another big bite out of the 10K, but remember that they charge $20 extra for the half marathon, so this was an enhancement to revenue.

Of course, the new race brings a new demand for busses to the start line that wasn't needed for the 10k because 10K runners park at the starting line in Research Park. Also, I'm sure the longer course necessitates higher expenses such as additional police presence to block intersections. (although, there was less than a mile of the Half Marathon course that was already a part of either the full marathon course or 10K course or both.)

My source for the number of finishers are the race results found on this page: http://deseretnewsclassic.com/about/results-2/