Women-only mass participation sporting events: does participation facilitate changes in physical activity?

Do people's goals for mass participation sporting events matter? A self-determination theory perspective

“…5,9,12 Previous evidence shows that when MPSE participants were more satisfied with their event experience, they held stronger attitudes toward regular physical activity. 11 People are motivated to participate in MPSEs for enjoyment, health improvement, stress management, strength and endurance, social interaction, challenge and competition 5,6,11,13 and to fundraise for charity. 13 Funk and colleagues identified enjoyment, competition and positive health motivations to be positively associated with running commitment.…”

“…4 There is limited evidence that MPSEs have broad appeal to people who are newly or infrequently active. 5 While over half of respondents who registered for their first parkrun (a weekly, timed community-based running event) were non-runners (25.3%) or occasional runner/joggers (26.0%) 6 other evidence suggests MPSEs may not attract the least active. 5,[7][8][9] Some population sub-groups with typically low levels of physical activity 10 were wellrepresented in the study of parkrun including women, overweight individuals and older adults.…”

“…5 While over half of respondents who registered for their first parkrun (a weekly, timed community-based running event) were non-runners (25.3%) or occasional runner/joggers (26.0%) 6 other evidence suggests MPSEs may not attract the least active. 5,[7][8][9] Some population sub-groups with typically low levels of physical activity 10 were wellrepresented in the study of parkrun including women, overweight individuals and older adults. 6 However, representation from ethnic minorities and lower socio-economic groups was disproportionately low.…”

“…5 Beyond these descriptive findings, little is known about whether MPSE participants' preevent goals could influence their experiences of an event, the quality of their post-event motivation and/or their physical activity .…”

Factors influencing the inspirational effect of major sports events on audience sport participation behaviour

“…Their analysis showed that the mini marathon engaged far more than just the already converted active women within the Irish population and that training for the event was an important stimulus to action for most participants, which is highly positive from a public health perspective. Another more recent study by Crofts, Schofield and Dickson (2012) examined the physical activity patterns of participants in a women-only triathlon mass participation event. Samples were taken before and three months after the race; the key finding revealed that 50% of women who were considered 'insufficiently' active before the event remained 'sufficiently' active three months after the race.…”