To help runners find their ideal spot, the sports shoe brand Hoka conducted a study of the establishment list of ten European countries where he trains well. Teams from Hoka took into account eight parameters: the number of #runcation hashtags associated with a location on Instagram, the number of Google searches, the number of spas per capita in the country, the level of pollution, the average amount of sunshine, the average temperature, the presence of national parks and the number of Strava downloads per capita.
Spain tops the list
Hoka so he determined that Spain was the perfect destination for running enthusiasts. The country stands out in particular for its mild weather for a large part of the year, low level of pollution and the presence of 14 national parks on its territory. Malta is in second place, thanks in large part to the island’s average annual temperature of 20 degrees. Runners can also tackle nearly 30 km of waterfront trails. They complete the leading trio Portugal, very popular on Strava. Spain’s neighbor also experiences mild weather, as well as low levels of pollution and longer periods of sunshine (on average per year) than the rest of the Iberian Peninsula.
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PUSH France is in 4th place, mainly due to the strong presence of hashtags associated with running on publications representing the country. The French territory is also often mentioned by runners on Strava. PUSH Finland, the highly searched runners on Google in 2023, is following France very closely. The Nordic country stands out especially for the number of national parks and the low level of pollution.
San Marino and United Kingdom come next, followed AndorraL’Iceland AND Monaco. Note that despite its 9th place in the ranking, Iceland has the highest number of spas per 100,000 inhabitants (18) and also 3,461 Strava downloads for the same population. Another country that does not appear in the ranking Hokaalso stood out in terms of Google searches: the Belarus got the highest score for the words “run” and “marathon”