Recognition of Marathon Finishers for the Benefit of JAAF Certified Race

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the recognition of marathon finishers for the benefit of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) certified races. It's necessary to be a member of JAAF for an athlete to participate in the JAAF certified meets. But it isn’t necessary to be a member of JAAF to participate in the road races. So runners can choose to be JAAF membership or not. But the revenue from membership fees is one of the key financial resources for National Federations. So it’s important for JAAF to expand the number of runners having JAAF membership. And it is necessary to clarify the benefits of JAAF certified races and to make attractive suggestions for runners. In this survey, we made questions about images and benefit of JAAF certified races, and asked 245 runners about thrm. Answers to questions are classified into 4 groups, according to finish time of runners : Sub-3 hours, Sub-4 hours, Sub-5 hours, Over-5 hours. Over 90% runners thought JAAF certified races were positive. And regardless of the times of the runners, they recognized value in the accurate times and distances of JAAF permit races. Therefore, compared to the non-permit races, the role of the JAAF certified races is to provide runners with accurate results. The faster runners, who have Sub-3 hours and Sub-4 hours times, recognize value the race of Semi Elite races, in order to meet qualifying standards. That provides high motivation to the faster runners. So it is necessary to consider a policy which makes Semi Elite races activated.