The 46th annual Bolder Boulder will begin Monday morning with nearly 53,000 entrants registered, race organizers said three days out, and registrations were closed Friday at midnight.
Cliff Bosley, speaking in the run-up to the start, said the event is on track to reach a top-five mark in total registrations, and noted the surge reflects a broader trend: "Broadly, running still just continues to increase in popularity."
The weight of the meet is in the numbers. As of Friday at 3 p.m. the race had about 700 more entrants than 2025, and the field overall has climbed steadily since the post-pandemic low of 33,991 in 2022. Last year the race rose to 52,054 entrants; in 2024 it drew 43,971, in 2023 it drew 40,044 and the 2011 peak remains 54,554. The Bolder Boulder closed registrations before the final pre-race weekend for the first time since the race began in 1979.
Organizers say the citizen’s race will feature the largest field in more than a decade, and the day will again be capped by the International Team Challenge and the annual Memorial Day tribute. The event is expected to finish registration totals near the heights the race hit repeatedly from 2007 to 2019, when it welcomed at least 50,000 entrants 10 times in 13 races.
Those who follow participation point to habits formed during the pandemic as one reason for the rebound. "I do know that during the pandemic there were a lot of people who started running. Because it was something you could do and stay fit and kind of keep yourself preoccupied when the world was seemingly closed. People were gravitating toward being outdoors. Hiking, walking and running. I’m not sure if that’s part of the trend, but the sport continues to grow," Bosley said.
The resurgence in entries comes with a twist at the elite end. Three-time defending men's champion Conner Mantz continues to recover from an injury and will not be in the field, and two-time defending women’s champion Grace Loibach Nawowuna from Kenya will not compete. Their absences remove familiar figures from the top of the results list even as the citizen ranks swell.
That gap between amateur mass and elite continuity is the story’s tension. The race typically welcomes at least 1,000 registrations on race morning, yet this year organizers closed the books Friday at midnight — an early cutoff that ensures the headline numbers will be final before the traditional last-minute rush. Bosley suggested other local races are also drawing interest: "That’s another race in our area that’s also seeing a good amount of interest." He added, "That could be another indicator of the interest in running road races seems to be increasing."
Context sharpens what those figures mean. The Bolder Boulder did not hold races in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID pandemic, and the 2022 return marked the low point of the post-pandemic comeback. Since then entries have climbed each year, and the current total puts the event within reach of the sport’s busiest single-day fields. For the many thousands who come for the citizen’s race and for the Memorial Day tribute that closes the day, this year’s edition will feel like a recovery completed.
Looking ahead, the most consequential fact is simple: with registrations locked and the citizen field swelling, the Bolder Boulder is positioned to reassert itself among the country’s largest single-day road races even as the elite lineup reshuffles without Mantz and Nawowuna. Monday morning will show whether the final finish line tally pushes the event back toward its historic peaks.
