Abstract

ROSALES OBANDO, Dannia María; ARAYA VARGAS, Gerardo  and  RIVAS BORBON, Óscar Milton. Amateur runners’ motivations for participating in long-distance races by age, gender, and sports experience. Pensar en Movimiento [online]. 2018, vol.16, n.1, e29089. ISSN 1659-4436.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/pensarmov.v16i1.29089.

Rosales-Obando, D.M.; Araya-Vargas, G. & Rivas-Borbón, O.M. (2018). Amateur runners’ motivations for participating in long-distance races by age, gender, and sports experience. PENSAR EN MOVIMIENTO: Revista de Ciencias del Ejercicio y la Salud, 16(1), 1-18. Purpose: examine amateur runners’ motivations for participating in long-distance races, taking into consideration age, sports experience and gender. A total of 404 amateur runners participated (18 to 88 years of age, n=271 men and n=133 women, between 2 months and 40 years of sports experience, none professional). Results: motivations related to weight control tend to lose value as sports experience increases (men r=-.121; p=.046; women r=-.187; p=.031), while motivations related to overcoming goals and competition tend to decrease as age advances (men r=-.231; p<.001; women r=-.207; p=.017). This pattern was similar for both sexes. In addition, both men and women’s main motivations for running were recognition and finding meaning to life and self-esteem. Conclusion: despite the amateur nature of the subjects and their lack of professional sports preparation to compete in long-distance races, their motivational profile, regardless of sex, is characterized by the search for recognition, finding meaning to life and self-esteem through the practice of this activity. In addition, health reasons explain little variance in the motivation for running in the sample, both men and women.

Keywords : motivation; long-distance races; amateurs; sport; psychology.

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