The motivation of ultramarathon runners: a comparison of differnt age, gender and race group

Participating in ultramarathon footraces is a popular form of exercise for many South African long-distance runners, regardless of the competitive level of the athlete. The main purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the self-report reasons for participating in the sport. The secondary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of three demographic variables, namely gender, age, and race, on participative motives for ultramarathon running. The Motivations of Marathoners Scales (MOMS), which comprises of nine scales, was used as the principal psychometric instrument in determining reasons for running and assessing these variables. The sample consisted of 194 entrants of the 2003 City-to-City Heritage Day Ultramarathon. The results indicated that the three most important participative motives for ultramarathon running are health orientation, self-esteem, and personal goal achievement. Women are less concerned with competition, personal goal achievement, and recognition/ approval than men are. With increasing age there is a decrease in importance of all the MOMS-scales, except for psychological coping, the importance of which increases over the years. The Black runners scored higher than the White runners did on eight of the nine MOMS-scales – psychological coping being the exception – with competition especially pronounced.Prof. Gideon P. de Brui