This year’s ING Miami Marathon pumped an estimated $15.8 million into Miami-Dade County's economy, according to an independent study of the event that surveyed both runners and spectators.

Sport Tourism Event Research Network (STERN), a group of academics in the U.S., including the University of Miami, and Australia, studied the event, which attracted some 30,000 visitors to the Jan. 26-28 marathon, half marathon and health and fitness expo. STERN sent follow-up emails to 9,500 of the 11,656 marathon participants after the event and of those, 36 percent responded. Respondents were asked to provide information about their spending habits as well as those of spectators who accompanied them. The findings showed marathon participants spent $6.4 million; spectators $9.4 million.

More than half – 57 percent – were from outside Miami-Dade County and 20 percent were international participants and spectators. Visitors from the U.S. spent an average $540 on hotels, $380 on food and $200 on other items. For international visitors, those figures grew to $805 on lodging; $570 on food and $945 on other items, the STERN study showed.