Participation rates for competition in Running vs. Swimming

At first blush, I'd venture to say that swimming probably gets a higher percentage of active participants at meets. The primary reason I can see is that 90% of swimming is done in a pool. The people have to go past a place to pay, deal with a coach, see a locker room bulletin board, or something, and they usually would have contact with someone to prompt them about an event (swim meet, open water, whatever). In my limited contacts with swimmers over the years, I'd say 50% or more know about swimming events (meets, open water, etc), and about half those compete. Running can be done most anywhere. I'd venture to say it is one of the most visible sports, since in many cases runners are on the side of the road. But it is tough to get a message to someone who runs solo all the time on roads or trails near their home. This doesn't even include the countless numbers of people who use treadmills at gyms...some may just run/jog for a warm-up, while others may do an hour run then leave. In my limited contacts with runners, most do this just to keep in shape, and I'd say less than 5% ever compete in anything. This has not been my observation of swimmers at all. In the pools I've swam at, there are like one or two others that compete in Masters and we are all doing it on our own. Running - I don't know because like you say there are so many and most are doing it for their own fitness desires without regard for competition. But there are 5ks all the time and I think many of them would have at least done one at some point. They wouldn't be afraid of it. I hate running yet I've done a couple myself because it was my company's event. But - I suppose the two really aren't that comparable anyway. A swim meet would be more like a track meet and a track meet would be very intimidating. At the same time, pools are the venue we use. In Masters, no one really cares if you use an in-water start or if it takes you two minutes to finish the 100 free. You might even get as much applause as someone swimming it in 46 seconds. I don't know if it is a goal for Masters to get people competing anyway or just swimming fitness?

At first blush, I'd venture to say that swimming probably gets a higher percentage of active participants at meets. The primary reason I can see is that 90% of swimming is done in a pool. The people have to go past a place to pay, deal with a coach, see a locker room bulletin board, or something, and they usually would have contact with someone to prompt them about an event (swim meet, open water, whatever). In my limited contacts with swimmers over the years, I'd say 50% or more know about swimming events (meets, open water, etc), and about half those compete. Running can be done most anywhere. I'd venture to say it is one of the most visible sports, since in many cases runners are on the side of the road. But it is tough to get a message to someone who runs solo all the time on roads or trails near their home. This doesn't even include the countless numbers of people who use treadmills at gyms...some may just run/jog for a warm-up, while others may do an hour run then leave. In my limited contacts with runners, most do this just to keep in shape, and I'd say less than 5% ever compete in anything. This has not been my observation of swimmers at all. In the pools I've swam at, there are like one or two others that compete in Masters and we are all doing it on our own. Running - I don't know because like you say there are so many and most are doing it for their own fitness desires without regard for competition. But there are 5ks all the time and I think many of them would have at least done one at some point. They wouldn't be afraid of it. I hate running yet I've done a couple myself because it was my company's event. But - I suppose the two really aren't that comparable anyway. A swim meet would be more like a track meet and a track meet would be very intimidating. At the same time, pools are the venue we use. In Masters, no one really cares if you use an in-water start or if it takes you two minutes to finish the 100 free. You might even get as much applause as someone swimming it in 46 seconds. I don't know if it is a goal for Masters to get people competing anyway or just swimming fitness?