European Athletics Vice President Jean Gracia delivered a presentation entitled “Distance Running - What is the Future?” at the 21st Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) Congress held in Athens on Thursday 10 November. He also used this opportunity to provide a status update of the IAAF Governance Reform.
Gracia informed the audience about the continuing growth of European Athletics Running for All which has over 200 certified races in 36 countries and while the number of adults who run for leisure and well-being across the continent continues to increase, Gracia encourages race organisers to adapt and diversify their programmes in order to counter a decline in participation levels.
Gracia points to an increasingly saturated market for the stagnation - or drop - in participation in some races and notes the correlation between adults running for leisure and entering races isn’t as strong as it might be with an estimated 50 million people across the continent actively running.
“While grassroots running groups grow in terms of number and size, events might not follow that trend if they do not adopt these less formal activities,” said Gracia, who cited Parkrun - the free, weekly 5km timed run which originated in the United Kingdom before going global - as a strong example of a fresh concept which has engaged and energised a wide demographic.
Gracia has said the attraction of the traditional distances of 10km, the half marathon and marathon will remain but he encourages races to do more to provide opportunities for runners throughout the year and make sure all abilities are catered for with events suited for runners, joggers, first-timers and youths.
“While capacity to change and adapt has always been in the middle of the running movement, these days when the events are many in size and numbers, we really need to focus to keep the runners by offering diversified activities and running opportunities through the year and not only at the events itself.”
Gracia has suggested race organisers could “engage more closely through loyalty and membership programmes” and bring the idea into the workplace “by offering employees activation programmes, and general health and wellbeing services.”
Gracia further reiterated that road races have an important role from a social standpoint in terms of integration and engagement, and has said race organisers could even use their races to influence policy on health.
“Your events have the power to integrate and to engage. The social importance of it in Europe these days is probably larger than ever, so you should emphasise this to the cities and authorities you are dealing with.
“We all need to work together in countries where authorities are not investing enough in public health and until they start to do so, you can do this through your events and year-long activities,” he told the assembly.
“At European Athletics, we are very aware of our sport of athletics changing and reaching its significance through the running movement and serving the society to be active,” he concluded.
The European Athletics Quality Road Race standards act as an assurance for road runners throughout Europe. They distinguish between races that respect the standards and those that haven’t sought certification or assessment. They form the foundation of Running for All, a strong recognisable brand for running activities throughout Europe.
More information on Running for All:
Website: european-running4all.org
Twitter: @runningforall
Contact: [email protected]