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Study: Motivations vary by ability

Start line of a race

Start line of a race
What motivates runners to line up on race day differs by ability level, according to new research.

Although it may seem unsurprising, runners who finish towards the front of the pack in 5K events are motivated to run for different reasons than those who finish further back, according to research published recently in the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events.

The study used a survey of 521 regular 5K runners in Pennsylvania to compare age- and gender-adjusted results to five different motivational categories and found the reason these athletes compete to be slightly different than expected. The study participants averaged having competed in eight 5K races over the past two years, so the sample group was comprised of regular runners. They were divided into three categories: high, medium, and low ability.

The different motivational factors were competition, health and fitness, altruism, social affiliation and their past ability.

The survey found, unsurprisingly, the fastest runners were the group most motivated by competition, but interestingly were also the group most motivated by altruism, by a fairly wide margin. They were also the only group motivated by past performances. Altruism was the top reason they competed in 5K events, according to survey results, followed by competition. Past performance was the third-ranking reason. The fastest runners were hardly motivated by health or fitness reasons.

The runners in the medium ability category were also most motivated by altruism, followed by social affiliation and competition, although they were also fairly motivated by health and fitness goals. The differences between reason for running were also less pronounced that in other other two groups. They seemed to be motivated by everything except past performances.

The low ability group was most motivated by health and fitness, followed by social affiliation and altruism. They were not very motivated by competition.

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