Motivation of First Time Marathoners to Adherence to Marathoning

Abstract

As the number of marathons offered in the United States continues to increase, so does the number of marathon participants, including first time marathon runners. The purpose of this study was to examine race motivators for newbie marathoners and their likelihood of adherence to the sport of marathoning. A total of 906 first time marathon participants, who ran their debut race within the past year, were included in this study. Participants were chosen on the basis of their willingness to complete an online survey. The survey consisted of demographic questions and the Motivation of Marathoners Scales (MOMS) (Masters et al., 1993). Through a frequency analysis of the MOMS, mean values revealed participants utilized primarily personal goal achievement, self-esteem, and health orientation as reasons for training for and running a marathon. In terms of gender comparisons and the MOMS, males had higher means for personal goal achievement and competition; females had higher means in the remaining seven categories. Females and males also had significant differences in response means on seven of the MOMS subscales to run a marathon. A significant difference was also found between charity and non charity runners with the MOMS for weight concern. Significance was found in the intended time frame to run another marathon for females and males. A frequency count showed the top three reasons to run another marathon were to lower my finish time (82.9%), to include the race as part of a vacation weekend (73.8%), and to improve upon my training (62.9%). Significance was found between females and males in their chosen reasons for running another marathon. Gender differences were significant for to lower my finish time, attempt a different course, to raise money for charity, to run with family or friends, to include the race as part of a vacation weekend, and to improve upon my training. Significance was also found between charity and non charity runners and running another marathon to stay in shape, to have fun, to attempt a different course, as part of a vacation weekend, and to improve upon training. Based upon input from the `other' category, 21 additional categories were created for reasons to run another marathon.