The running boom of the 1970s occurred in high- and middle-income countries. It was particularly pronounced in the United States and occurred in other countries including the United Kingdom and other European countries, Australia and New Zealand.[1][2]
The boom was primarily a 'jogging' movement in which running was generally limited to personal physical activity and often pursued alone for recreation and fitness. It was also associated with a growth in public participation in competitive road running during the decade, particularly in the United States, which spread to other countries in the following decade, including the United Kingdom.[3] It is estimated that 25 million Americans took up some aspect of running in the 1970s and 1980s,[4] including President Jimmy Carter.[5] With more running events, shoe and apparel manufacturers grew and formed to accommodate the demand.
The boom attracted women and individuals in minority communities, but studies from the time showed that participants in running races were most commonly university-educated men in white-collar occupations.[1][6]
Background
Growth in jogging began in the late 1960s,[1] building on a post-World War II trend towards non-organized, individualistic, health-oriented physical and recreational activities.[7][8]
In New Zealand, Arthur Lydiard presided over the country's golden era in world track and field during the 1960s. Lydiard published Run to the Top in 1962 and in the same year introduced Bill Bowerman to the concept of running as a fitness routine, including for people of an advanced age. Bowerman took running back to the United States; he began a public jogging program at Hayward Field in 1963 and published Jogging in 1966 which helped to popularize the concept in the U.S.[9][10]Jim Ryun grew from a top high school runner into an American sports hero and had a popular rivalry with Marty Liquori.[11][12][13][14] American athletes such as Steve Prefontaine raised the profile of the sport.[15][16]
Frank Shorter's victory in the men's marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics is credited with inspiring the running boom in the United States.[17][18][19][20][21] He was the third American to win the Olympic marathon, but the first since 1908. The victory was covered by ABC, including dramatic coverage of the finish, when a German imposter ran into the stadium ahead of Shorter.[22] Serving as guest color commentator was writer Erich Segal, who called out over the airwaves (but obviously inaudible to Shorter) "It's a fraud, Frank."[23] In 2000, The Washington Post included the phrase among the ten most memorable American sports calls.[23]
The television story changed the way Americans viewed the sport of long-distance running. According to Joe Muldowney, at the time "most Americans had no idea what the marathon was, let alone its weird 26.2-mile distance. Some folks may have heard of the Boston Marathon, an event that had been held since 1897, but few Americans had the desire to tackle the race itself."[24][25]
Growth in participation
The boom was primarily a 'jogging' movement in which running was generally limited to personal physical activity and often pursued alone for recreation and fitness.[1][26]
Many new road racing events evolved in the United States offering public participation. As technology improved, television coverage of major races eventually included:
In the United States, Title IX, mandating gender equality, was passed in the United States in 1972, opening up scholastic athletic opportunities for women. Many academic institutions used running sports like cross country and track and field for women to help numerically offset the number of players on their economically lucrative football teams.[33][34]
It is estimated that 25 million Americans took up some aspect of running in the 1970s and 1980s,[4] including President Jimmy Carter.[5] Many running events, shoe and apparel manufacturers grew and formed to accommodate the demand.[35] While the boom attracted women and individuals in minority communities, studies from the time showed that participants in running races were most commonly university-educated men in white-collar occupations.[1][6]
Media in the United States
Many factors combined to build momentum for the boom in the United States. Media coverage was responsive and supportive of the boom.
Notable publications included:
Runner's World magazine, launched in 1966 and became a monthly in 1973. Competitors included Running, The Runner and Running Times, which eventually merged in various forms.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a second running boom occurred in Europe and North America marked by a more notable increase in participation in organized races. The number of finishers of road races of all distances in the United States increased by 300% between 1990 and 2013;[1][38] followed by a decline in 2014-15.[1][39]
Studies have shown a continuous trend of 'democratization' among participants of running events since 1969 with broader socio-demographic representation among participants, including more female finishers, although some evidence is mixed and participation still varies by country and event.[1]
^ ab"The second running boom". POGO Physio Gold Coast. 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2020-11-05. As well as the USA, the first running boom did spread to other countries, including the UK Australia, and New Zealand
^ ab"Seb Coe: The London Marathon made running a normal thing to do". Evening Standard. 2017-09-29. Retrieved 2020-11-05. in the early 1970s ... people just didn't run unless they were members of the local athletics club. ... The marathon runner was looked on as a slightly quirky, sometimes eccentric, figure. That ... changed ... quite dramatically in April 1981 ... Olympians Chris Brasher and John Disley ... were inspired by the running revolution that was taking place in the United States from the middle 1970s onwards and the increasing popularity of city marathons like those in New York and Boston. They decided to recreate the same classic race in London. At the same time in Newcastle the Pied Piper of British athletics, Brendan Foster, was doing the same with the first Great North Run. Suddenly, the people who turned out to line the streets, and many more at home who watched on television ... witnessed not just a handful of elite athletes at the front of the field but crucially, a lot of people making up the numbers who looked a lot like them. The combined efforts of Foster, Brasher and Disley did a great deal to change attitudes to recreational running—which was cleverly aligned to the prevailing health and fitness agenda.
^"What was the Bannister legacy?". 2004-05-07. Retrieved 2020-11-05. Then came the glorious era of the 1970s and 1980s, when the British trio of Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram
^"Steve Ovett". www.thegreatdistancerunners.de. Retrieved 2020-11-05. The British trio of Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram has in the 1970s and 1980s written one of the most impressive chapters of world middle distance running history.
^McDougall, Christopher (2009-07-20). "To live is to jog". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-06. Three times in modern history, distance-running has skyrocketed. Each time, it's been in the midst of a major crisis. In the US, the first boom came during the Great Depression. The next was in the 1970s, during a recession, race riots, assassinations, and the war in Vietnam. And the third boom? One year after the 9/11 attacks, trail running suddenly became the fastest-growing outdoor sport in the US.
