Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the number of the running events held or canceled after the Tohoku region Pacific coast earthquake, and to determine how many people lost the opportunity to participate in running events.
Methods : The large internet running information site “RUNNET” was utilized. First of all, our survey was conducted by using a “detail search” on RUNNET to investigate the number of events scheduled to be held from January through May in 2010 and also in 2011. Then each event scheduled was investigated with regard to whether it was held or cancelled after March 11
th, 2011. Subsequently, our survey checked the number of applicants for each event, according to their official homepage or RUNNET event report page.
Results : The results showed that there were 38 events held in the 1
st week of March in 2011, but there was a dramatic decrease in the number of events to 7 in the week following the earthquake. Overall, 118 events were cancelled in the 3 months after the earthquake. The findings of our investigation showed that a total of over 270,000 runners lost opportunities.
Discussion : The investigation confirmed that cancelled events were not only limited to the Tohoku region, but also occurred in areas not affected. It possibly suggests that there were concerns for victims and affected areas. The canceling of many events may have caused behavioral changes for people who tried to start or maintain their healthy lives through participation in running events.
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