Thousands of runners are spending heavily on marathons and shorter fun runs across India, with the TCS World 10K Bengaluru drawing more than 35,000 participants on Sunday, with many of them travelling from Mumbai and Delhi just for the event.
Some runners were paying around Rs 15,000 for last-minute round-trip flights, another Rs 15,000 a night for five-star hotels, and adding post-run outings to push the total bill to Rs 40,000-50,000 for a weekend of racing.
What once looked like an inexpensive sport has, in practice, become a premium outing for many urban participants.
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Hyrox in India has grown from 1600 participants in the first edition to ~9000 in just the 4th edition. Each paying avg 9k for entry fee. Crazy growth in less than 12 months. Happy investor :)
— Dilip Kumar (@kmr_dilip) April 7, 2026
Velvet laces and rather pricey finish lines
For some runners, the spending is part of the appeal.
India Today quoted Mumbai-based marketing executive Nikunj Sabharwal, who said: “I’m the kind of person who will spend a lot of money on things that excite me. If it’s my hobby, I will spend.”
Sabharwal, 29, told the outlet that his total expenditure for the Bengaluru event came to about Rs 45,000, while also describing the motivation that comes from racing alongside thousands of others. Many runners talk about a “runner’s high” and the competitive energy of large events as a key reason they keep returning, even when the costs are high.
🚨HYROX is a new endurance sport that is different from triathlon. Deepak Raj, CEO Yoska, and the country head of HYROX India, has completed 27 IRONMAN triathlons.
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) September 8, 2025
He speaks to RevSportz on the sidelines of an event — The Future of Endurance Fitness in India — that was… pic.twitter.com/cVWXaX3hS4
The sponsors, it seems, fancy a marathon too
The rise has also been fuelled by corporate backing. TCS sponsors 14 marathons and running events globally. Wipro’s Bengaluru Marathon offers full, half, 10K and 5K categories.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and brand-building are major drivers for such sponsorships. India now hosts more than 1,500 annual running events, generating around Rs 4,000 crore in revenue and attracting 25 lakh registered runners.
The running gear market was valued at over Rs 23,500 crore in 2025 and is projected to cross Rs 46,000 crore by 2034.
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Gen Z discovers a taste for Hyrox
The same appetite for competitive fitness is now visible in Hyrox, the indoor race format that combines eight one-kilometre runs with eight functional workout stations.
Gen Z is increasingly drawn to the event, with registration fees alone ranging between Rs 7,500 and Rs 9,000. It is a social fitness experience as much as a race.
On the official HYROX India site, the next Delhi event is listed for July 24-26, 2026, at Yashobhoomi in New Delhi, while Mumbai is scheduled for September 17-20, 2026, at NESCO.
What links both the marathon circuit and Hyrox is the same shift: fitness is no longer just about exercise but about identity, community and the willingness to pay for both.
