Business & Entrepreneurship Journal

What motivates repeated participation in ultra-endurance events? A comparison between runners and cyclists

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  • Abstract

    Nowadays, there is an increased interest in exploring individuals’ motives for participation in ultra-endurance sport events, which can be described as activities requiring at least six hours of exercise and may be held in triathlon, running, swimming and cycling [1]. This study sheds light on factors associated with commitment to ultra-endurance events and more specifically investigates the ability of two different ultra-endurance events (running & cycling) to motivate a wide range of individuals to participate, based on the individuals’ attachment to each event, as well as to investigate a potential effect of involvement with ultra-endurance activities and satisfaction from the events on motivation for individuals. A quantitative method was used and questionnaires were collected from both an ultra-running and an ultra-cycling event, following a similar procedure. The questionnaires were distributed, before the award ceremonies, to each participant by a team of 5 researchers and were completed in the presence of the surveyors. The successful completion of a sum of 321 questionnaires was achieved, which were analyzed by means of the SPSS. Regression analysis showed that the intention to participate in future events is explained by the three proposed variables, the degree of individuals’ attachment to each event, their involvement with the sport and their satisfaction from the current event. The ability of the event to motivate participants was found to have the greatest impact among all predictors. Furthermore, substantial differences were found between the participants of the cycling and running events. Indicatively, more women participated in the running event than in the cycling event and cyclists practiced 4 hours more than runners per week. Moreover, the type of the event (cycling or running) was discovered to significantly affect one’s intention to participate again; it was found to be higher among runners than among cyclists.