Power of Sports Tradition and Its Influence on Long-Standing Engagement of Athletes: An Example of Czech Long-Distance Runners

Background: Czech sport is proud of the oldest road race on the Continent – 10K running race called `Běchovice`. It was founded in 1897 and has been hosted each year without break, that is, 121 times. Involvement in this race became gradually prestigious and almost cult matter. The special group of runners who participated a minimum of 20 times was formed from the end of the 1980´s and we began to track their performances and effort to gain the utmost number of participation.

Aims: To show how important and influential the role tradition can play in the field of sports; To illustrate how strong tradition of one race can engage runners in lifelong physical activities; To exemplify how this `big` tradition can breed `smaller` traditions of individuals, families, corporate teams, etc.

Methods: We used hermeneutic analysis to interpret the role of tradition. Further we researched a special group of long-distance runners who participated a minimum of 20 times in the named road race. Descriptive statistical evaluation concerning their age, performances and duration of involvement was performed.

Results: Constancy of the route, non-stop organizing without break, special celebrations of anniversaries, number of attendees, interest of media and `brand awareness` were found as important factors in building loyalty to the race. Anniversary races (especially № 100) had a noticeably higher number of attendees than year around. We found 318 runners who participated a minimum of 20 times in the race (eight of them 50-55 times!) and eight families 64-141 times. In the same manner we could compare the best results in the lifelong perspective and present performance of 40-85-year-old runners (year by year).

Discussion and Conclusions: Tracking running activities through one traditional race enables us to understand how tradition can build and strengthen motivation to be active to an older age. This lifelong perspective can also encourage former elite athletes to continue in sports activity. The question that arises is whether long-standing running prolongs life. According to our special group of runners, this appears to be the case. However, additional research needs to examine this supposition.