Why Women Now Fill More Than Half of DEKA’s Arena Race Entries

• DEKA says women make up 55 percent of entries at its arena events this year, and more than 80 percent of the 4,700 women registered are first-time competitors.
• At DEKA FIT Fort Lauderdale in September, 54 percent of the field was female, 58 percent of all athletes were new to DEKA, and ages ran from 12 to 79.
• The next US stop is Atlanta on November 7 and 8, where a 5K DEKA FIT entry starts at $70 and first responders and military members can claim up to 20 percent off.

Ten Zones, Many Starting Points

Eileen Percival goes by “Percy No Mercy” on the DEKA circuit. She serves as a US Air Force officer, makes DJ mixes under the name Pure Energy Music, and races in a series whose women’s entries run from age 10 to 72. In DEKA’s October 8 announcement of its 2026 participation numbers, she described strength as trusting yourself enough to keep showing up, not as never struggling. That line sums up a year in which women have become the majority of the sport’s entries.

The numbers come from DEKA, the functional fitness race series run by the Spartan organization. Women account for 55 percent of athlete entries at arena events, the large indoor races held in convention centers. Affiliate events, the smaller races hosted by local gyms, have recorded 7,437 entries so far this year, and 56 percent of them are female. DEKA counts more than 1,000 affiliate gyms and more than 1,500 events in over 12 countries. The release does not split the figures by country, so they describe the global series. The Fort Lauderdale race below shows the same pattern on US soil.

Every DEKA race uses the same ten zones, performed in order. The Strong format has no running between zones. Mile adds a 160-meter run before each zone, for a mile in total. FIT puts 500 meters between zones, a 5K overall, and Ultra stretches that into an endurance test. Ruck adds a 35-pound pack. The zones include lunges, rowing, box jumps, medicine ball throws, skiing, carries, biking, and burpees, so a first-timer who has used a rower and a set of kettlebells has met most of them.

What the Fort Lauderdale Field Looked Like

The clearest US snapshot comes from DEKA FIT Fort Lauderdale at the Broward County Convention Center, the same building that hosted the 2025 DEKA World Championship. Endurance.biz reported on September 30 that 2,281 people attended and 1,477 competed in DEKA FIT. Women made up 54 percent of that field. First-timers made up 58 percent, and the average age was 39.

Ages ran from 12, with Olivia Legagneur and Zoey McGhee the youngest, to 79, with Sandy Cronin the oldest. About 80 percent of the athletes lived in Florida, and nine countries were represented. Team racing drew a crowd of its own: 630 two-person teams and 147 four-person teams entered. Yancy Culp, a DEKA co-founder, said the sheer range of people who showed up to test themselves caught his attention. In DEKA FIT Ultra, five laps of the course add up to 50 zones and 25 kilometers of running, and 37 athletes took it on.

Teams explain part of the growth. DEKA says women account for more than 62 percent of team entries. A friend or a coworker who says yes turns an intimidating idea into a plan for a weekend.

Who Is Showing Up, and Why the Gym Door Seems Wider

DEKA’s age data tells the story of a sport that welcomes late starters. Half of the women registered for arena events are 40 or older, and one in six is 50 or older. The youngest woman entered so far is 10. The oldest is 72-year-old Liz Paxton, who began training in earnest in her mid-sixties. Among US competitors, the Pennsylvania National Guard noted that Lt. Col. Deborah Fisher, who commands the 288th Motor Transportation Battalion, placed sixth in the women’s 50 to 54 age group at the 2025 DEKA World Championship in Fort Lauderdale. About 2,500 elite athletes from more than 20 countries raced there, and ten Army National Guard members took part.

The mix by format is close to even. Women hold 59.3 percent of Strong entries, 54.8 percent of Mile, 52.6 percent of FIT, and half of Ruck. FIT draws the largest group of women, at 2,566 entries. Bex Sharpe, a business owner who races DEKA, described the feeling she wants from the sport as strong, confident, fast, and happy, with a willingness to take up space. Libbie Joyce, DEKA’s 18-year-old Youth Race Director, said visibility shapes belief, and the youngest racers in the numbers give her argument support.

The pitch to newcomers is simple. Racers can compete at a major arena event or at a local gym that hosts DEKA through its affiliate network. Affiliate results count toward the global leaderboard, so a woman who races at a neighborhood gym gets a mark next to athletes racing in an arena.

Atlanta Is Next on the US Calendar

Atlanta hosts DEKA FIT and DEKA FIT Ultra on November 7 and 8 at the Georgia World Congress Center. The event page lists a 5K distance, an average finishing time of 50 minutes and 30 seconds, and a starting price of $70. Up to 20 percent off is available to US military, law enforcement, firefighters, first responders, and US government employees, verified through GOVX. The page describes the race as an all-levels hybrid fitness race.

A first-timer can approach Atlanta in three steps. Pick a format: Strong skips running, and FIT is a 5K. Pick a partner or race solo. Then run through the ten zones in training, either at a DEKA affiliate gym or at home with a rower, a box, and a pair of kettlebells. The DEKA World Championship follows in December in Fort Worth, Texas.

Percival and Sharpe describe what racing feels like, and the entry numbers back them up. When a series fills its fields with first-timers, women in their forties and fifties, and a 72-year-old who started in her mid-sixties, the gym door looks wide open.