Sports and the city

I have just returned from a short break to Ireland, accompanying my distance runner husband, Paul, as he took part in the Dublin Marathon. The event – and in particular the number of spectators lining the city streets on a late October day, got me thinking about the positive role that participatory events can play in the life of a city.

It strikes me that an event like a marathon, triathlon or cyclo-sportive can be an incredible opportunity for cities for a number of key reasons. Firstly, they quite obviously provide a great tourist attraction. People from all around the world gathered in Dublin last weekend. Indeed, mass participation events such as the Paris Marathon are known to prioritise entry from foreign nationals to target increased overseas investment as a direct result of the event. How many of last weekend’s visitors would have otherwise chosen the end of October to travel to Dublin, filling its hotels, shops and pubs? Events like this provide an opportunity for a peak attraction at an off peak time, spreading tourism – and its revenue, across the calendar year.

Secondly, events allow a destination to define or compound an identity for itself, whether by carefully crafting a route which showcases its best physical assets, like Paris’ route along the Seine or Honolulu’s wind along the Pacific coast; or perhaps tells its story in a different way, through highlighting its history, diverse communities, or even something that it may be famous for, like the Marathon du Medoc at the heart of France’s wine production region, where rather than the traditional water and gel stations, runners enjoy wine tasting en route!

Thirdly, I believe taking part in an event that involves great preparation, sacrifice and ultimately results in some serious blood, sweat and tears also forges a strong connection between people and place that has the potential to create a new set of fans every time. When you’ve “left it all on the floor” as athletes describe acts of extreme effort, it shouldn’t surprise you that you do feel that you have somehow left a little of yourself behind, which will undoubtedly inspire you to return in the future to relive your achievement. The transformation in Paul’s attitude to London from total distain to wistful nostalgia post completion of the marathon really brought this home to me. What a powerful way to change perceptions.

There is seemingly an ever-increasing appetite to complete physical personal challenges: the London Marathon is overwhelmingly oversubscribed every year (six years of trying, and counting…) and social media is constantly full of people clutching medals or covered in mud, celebrating their personal achievements. As a result, there is clearly a huge opportunity for cities to tap into this potential visitor market, enhance place-pride and provide a measurable target to assist in improving the health and wellbeing of its own residents, which in the context of the well-documented obesity ‘epidemic’, can surely only be a good thing.

On a personal note, I am very excited to see that Birmingham has announced details of its inaugural marathon for 2017. The half marathon has proved to be hugely successful and a full marathon is exactly what the city needs as it starts to stake its claim towards the Commonwealth Games. Perhaps it will even gain our great city some new fans in the process.