Recognition of Road Race Directors for the Benefit of JAAF Certified Races

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the recognition of the road running race director for the benefit of the JAAF certified race. There are about 3000 road running events in Japan. But the number of JAAF certified races is just about 200 races. In 2016, the JAAF made a new concept of “Wellness Athletics” and expanded the number for the purpose of ensuring the safety and security of running events. In this survey, we made 5 questions about the system, benefits, administration, operation and course measurement of the JAAF certified races and distributed them to 25 road running race directors. Over a half of the race directors didn’t know about the system of JAAF certified races in detail, so their images of JAAF certified races was negative. But when we suggested to them the actual benefits of JAAF certified races, the reaction was positive. Based on these results, we conclude that in order to increase the number of JAAF certified races, it is necessary to point out the benefits and explain the system to the race directors accurately.