Running Events

This is the first book to critically examine the relationship between running events in local, national and international welfare policy, their marketing and management, and the resulting social impacts. Drawing on original empirical research, the book presents a series of illustrative case studies, with each chapter containing take-home messages for sport and events managers looking to improve their professional practice. Developing a new theoretical perspective on running events, the book presents data from around the world, including five European countries, the US and China. It covers different types of events, from big city marathons to community park runs, and new types of events such as path and trail runs, night runs, ultra runs, extreme runs and obstacle runs, presenting a typology of running events that will help shape the future analysis of this rapidly growing sector. The book also examines the market for running events, runners' socio-demographic profiles, the main management and marketing approaches and techniques used by organisers, and the socio-economic impacts of running events, such as the effect on people's attitudes and behaviours, organisational planning, city promotion and social interactions. Running events are central to sport at all levels, from grassroots to professional, so this book is essential reading for any student, researcher or practitioner working in sport management, sport development, sport policy, the sociology of sport or event studies.

Kostas Alexandris is a Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and an invited faculty member at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is also the Director of the "Sport, Tourism and Recreation Management" Lab. He is an Associate Editor in the journals Managing Sport and Leisure and Leisure Studies, and a member of the editorial boards of several international journals. Vassil Girginov is a Professor in sport management/development at Brunel University London, UK, and a Visiting Professor at the Russian International Olympic University, Russia and the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He also serves as the President of the European Association for Sport Management. His work is concerned with understanding the relationship between the Olympic Games and social change in various cultural and economic milieus. His research interests, publications and industry experience are in the field of Olympic movement, sport development, comparative management and policy analysis. Jeroen Scheerder is a Professor in sport policy and sport sociology in the Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium, where he heads the Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group. He is the promotor-coordinator of the Interuniversity Policy Research Centre on Sports on behalf of the Flemish Government, and the academic coordinator of the KU Leuven Sport Policy & Sport Management Programme. He also served as the President of the European Association for Sociology of Sport (2014-2016). He is (co-)editor of Running across Europe (2015), Functions of Sports Clubs in European Societies (2020), and The Rise and Size of the Fitness Industry in Europe (2020).

Foreword SEBASTIAN COE 1 The many facets of running VASSIL GIRGINOV 2 The running eventscape: Developments, runners' profiles and policies JEROEN SCHEERDER AND KOBE HELSEN 3 Marketing running events KOSTAS ALEXANDRIS, PAUL HOVER, AND LINDA OOMS 4 Running events' impacts VASSIL GIRGINOV 5 Conclusion VASSIL GIRGINOV