Record numbers hit Adelaide's trails, parks as running participation surges post-COVID

The number of Adelaide residents taking part in organised running events and recreational fitness activities has hit an all-time high, according to new data from Sport Australia's annual participation report. The report, released last month, shows that over 38 per cent of South Australians aged 15 and above now engage in running, jogging or walking for fitness at least once a week, up from 32 per cent in 2022. The surge places Adelaide among the top three capital cities nationally for regular participation, trailing only Canberra and Melbourne.

This matters now because the spike in local numbers comes as Australia's broader sporting landscape faces a familiar post-World Cup comedown. A strike threat is hanging over the A-League season, and a column in The Guardian this week warned that the "post-World Cup glow again fades too fast" for the domestic game. But while organised team sports struggle with participation plateaus, individual fitness activities like running are capitalising on a shift in how people exercise. The data suggests that in Adelaide, at least, the casual runner is becoming the new mainstream athlete.

Where Adelaide is running

The most popular routes are clustered around the city's green backbone. The 6.5-kilometre loop around the River Torrens Linear Park from Elder Park to Hackney Bridge and back remains the most-used path in the metropolitan area, according to Parks and Rec SA's 2025 trail usage survey. The Adelaide Park Lands, a 7.6-square-kilometre ring of grass and dirt trails that encircles the CBD, has seen a 22 per cent increase in foot traffic between 2023 and 2025, with weekend mornings now seeing as many as 4,000 runners on the eastern sections near Victoria Park and the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

South Australia's biggest mass-participation event, the City-Bay Fun Run, attracted a record 32,000 entrants in March 2026, organisers said. That shattered the previous high of 28,500 set in 1998. The event runs from the corner of King William Street and North Terrace in the city down to Brighton Jetty, a 12-kilometre stretch that is now routinely busier on a Sunday morning than it is during peak hour on a weekday. Similar growth is showing at the weekly parkrun events: nine of Adelaide's 14 parkrun courses recorded their highest-ever attendance in the first half of 2026, with the flagship West Beach parkrun averaging 587 finishers per week.

What the numbers mean for fitness culture

The data also shows a shift in demographics. The biggest growth segment is women aged 35 to 54, whose participation in running events in Adelaide has increased by 17 per cent since 2022, according to the same Sport Australia report. The South Australian Running Association says its membership base has expanded by 14 per cent year-on-year, and its weekend training groups in the Park Lands and at the Adelaide University Sports Club track in North Adelaide now regularly hit capacity. Meanwhile, the number of recreational runners entering the 5km and 10km categories at local fun runs has surged, while entries for the half-marathon distance have remained flat, suggesting that for many new participants, the goal is participation, not distance.

What happens next depends on infrastructure. The state government's $2.5 million upgrade of the West Beach promenade and shared-use path, announced in the March 2026 budget, is expected to be completed by next summer. The Adelaide City Council has also flagged a plan to install three new drinking fountains and shade shelters along the Torrens path by the end of 2026. But the biggest pressure point remains parking at major event start lines and a lack of late-afternoon lighting on popular trails during winter months. For now, the advice from the South Australian Running Association is simple: if you plan to run a major Adelaide event in the second half of 2026, register early, several autumn fun runs are already at 80 per cent capacity.