Strava's 2023 global report reveals UK women don't feel safe, and influencers don't influence...

Every year, Strava analyses data from the 120 million-plus athletes who use the platform, spotting trends and predicting what lies ahead. This year they have also taken things into greater depth by surveying just under 7,000 of their active members to get a deeper insight into what drives them.

With the results from 2023 now in, there is plenty of positive news for runners, but there is one stat that makes for truly depressing reading for UK runners. Globally, women are 9% more likely than men to cite a lack of safe places to exercise as a barrier, yet in the UK, that figure rises to an astonishing 160% – women are more than twice as likely than men to cite safety as a concern.

That women don't feel safe is, sadly, not news – Best Garmin deals said they felt concerned for their safety on a run. It is, though, surprising that the stat is so much higher in the UK than globally. The UK is, after all, a reasonably safe country when looked at on a global scale, ranking 34th out of 163 on the Global Peace Index in 2023. Other countries in which Strava is very popular are the US, Australia, Germany and Brazil.

Statistically, Brazil has a far worse crime rate than the UK, so you would surely expect women there to be more concerned for their safety. But it also, from available data, has a lot fewer female runners than male ones, at least when it comes to marathon running (roughly 75%/25%) – so that may of course skew the data. While there is still much to be done for women's safety on the run in the UK, at least most women may feel they have that option, albeit under limited conditions like daylight and with a friend. That may not be the case at all in other countries.

Other barriers revealed

As we all know, intentions are all very well and good but sometimes life gets in the way. And when we say life, what we actually mean is: work. Seventy-three per cent of UK Strava athletes said that a lack of time due to work demands was the top barrier to them working out.

Interestingly, men in the UK were 29% more likely than women to cite household responsibilities as an obstacle to working out, which raised our eyebrows, given that every study suggests there is still a considerable gender gap, with women doing more housework than men.

Influencers aren't influencing us

Another key finding in the Strava survey is that when it comes to motivation, over half of Strava athletes say that they are most inspired by the their friends or their family members who exercise. At the bottom of the list? Celebrities and influencers. And that's the case for all the age groups surveyed by Strava, including Gen Z and Millennials.

Running comes first

The Strava report contains plenty of good news for runners – including that there’s no need to look over your shoulder, because we’ve left the cyclists behind. Running takes the gold medal as the most uploaded sport on Strava, followed in second place by riding (bikes, that is, not horses). In third place are walks, while in fourth place we have trail running (which we would argue isn’t a separate sport to ‘running’ anyway).

Exercise generally also wins when it comes to combating isolation – 84% of global athletes (slightly lower with 78% in the UK) say that exercise, even when it is done alone, helps them combat feelings of loneliness.

Generational differences

Strava have also looked at the differences between the types, durations and speed of activities between Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z – because, after all, there’s just not enough stirring up of intergenerational beef already, is there? At any rate, there aren’t any huge surprises here. Gen Z were twice as likely to upload runs as rides, while the reverse is true of Boomers: hardly surprising as however much we tell you that running is not bad for your knees (it really isn’t, honest), it’s certainly true that lower-impact activities are gentler on your body as you get older.

But in cheery news for all ages, the percentage of athletes from each generation who earned a Strava crown (the top overall times on Strava segments) was actually more similar than you might imagine – led by Gen X with 8%, then Boomers with 7%, then Millennials 6% and the youngsters of Gen Z with just 4%. In the UK, Gen Z actually logged the fastest average runs, but also the shortest ones – and the slowest rides.

The median pace and distance of runs was also something Strava analysed – Boomers median pace was 6:42 min/km and a distance of 6.5km, for Gen X it was 6:05 min/km and 7.0 km, for Millenials 5:51 min/km and 6.5km, while Gen Z clocked a median of 5:35 min/km and 5.5 km.

Top gear

As anyone who has ever logged a pair of shoes with Strava and then forgotten to change them will know, the ability accurately track favourite brands and models may be subject to user error. I, for one, very much enjoy my periodic “Your Saucony Kinvaras have now done 12,500 miles, have you thought about replacing them?” email.

However, as a snapshot, it’s certainly an interesting picture. The top shoes overall are the Hoka Cliftons and the Nike Pegasus – two of our favourite everyday workhorses of running, the first in its ninth iteration and the Pegasus now reaching 40.

Those are the overall winners, whereas when you look at the different sexes, for women, the Hoka Clifton get the top spot but this time followed by the Brooks Ghost. Men globally favour the Nike Pegasus, followed by the Clifton. In the UK, the overall picture for men is the same, but the women's top two is slightly different: the Brooks Ghost is now followed by the Super shoes race well for this long, says science.

Meanwhile, the fastest growing shoe choice vs 2022 is again the Clifton, but this time followed by the Asics Novablast (again, a RW favourite).

When it comes to gadgets, the top devices that runners and riders use to actually upload to Strava are the Garmin Forerunner 235 Who is running UTMB 2025 Advertisement - Continue Reading Below for runners.

Getting out of the door

This survey was the first time that Strava have posed questions of their athletes about why they run, as well as how. When it comes to overcoming a rut, 53% of Gen Z and Millennial Strava athletes said that they set themselves a new goal, while 43% do so by entering an event.

But when it comes to getting out of the front door, while plenty of people ticked the boxes for watching hype videos or listening to songs to pump them up, the majority did it the old fashioned way. They either motivated themselves by thinking about their goals (48%) or simply acknowledged the practicalities: 53% said they knew that if they didn’t go now, they wouldn’t fit it in. The most important factor, though, was simply routine: 90% of Strava athletes globally say that a routine helps them exercise regularly.