IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2019i1p116-d300987.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Modern Ultramarathons on Shaping the Social Identity of Runners. The Case Study of Karkonosze Winter Ultramarathon

Author

Listed:
  • Marek Kazimierczak

    (Faculty of Sport Sciences, Poznan University of Physical Education, Krolowej Jadwigi 27/39, 61-871 Poznan, Poland)

  • Agata Dąbrowska

    (Faculty of Sport Sciences, Poznan University of Physical Education, Krolowej Jadwigi 27/39, 61-871 Poznan, Poland)

  • Katarzyna Adamczewska

    (Faculty of Health Sciences, Poznan University of Physical Education, Krolowej Jadwigi 27/39, 61-871 Poznan, Poland)

  • Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko

    (Faculty of Sport Sciences, Poznan University of Physical Education, Krolowej Jadwigi 27/39, 61-871 Poznan, Poland)

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in extreme sports around the world, researchers have rarely investigated the complex factors that have led to a developed commitment to extreme sports in recent years. Precisely, the social identity of ultramarathoners remains a research niche. The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of a sports event on shaping social identity of ultramarathon runners on the example of Karkonosze Winter Ultramarathon (held in Poland). The qualitative method used in the article—interviews with runners—made it possible to examine the factors that create social identity, among which the motives for participation, sports subculture, and the authenticity of the experience play a key role. The first part of the article describes the theoretical aspects of social identity in sport. The second, empirical part presents the research results supplemented by the statements of the contestants. In this case, the subject of analysis is the motives for participation in a winter ultramarathon and their characteristics. Lastly, the article analyzes the subculture of ultramarathoners and the experience of contestants’ authenticity. The investigated winter ultramarathon created the perfect space for creation, deepening and celebrating the social identity of ultramarathoners assessed as a value in itself. The article enriches the present knowledge about the motivation of ultramarathoners because, unlike the results of quantitative research, it presents in-depth responses of runners who were not always concerned by existing research questionnaires.

Suggested Citation

  • Marek Kazimierczak & Agata Dąbrowska & Katarzyna Adamczewska & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2019. "The Impact of Modern Ultramarathons on Shaping the Social Identity of Runners. The Case Study of Karkonosze Winter Ultramarathon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2019:i:1:p:116-:d:300987
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/1/116/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/1/116/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Joanna Poczta, 2018. "A Small-Scale Event and a Big Impact—Is This Relationship Possible in the World of Sport? The Meaning of Heritage Sporting Events for Sustainable Development of Tourism—Experiences from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & Aïna Chalabaev & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "Motivation in the Athens Classic Marathon: The Role of Sex, Age, and Performance Level in Greek Recreational Marathon Runners," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-9, July.
    3. Frick, Bernd, 2011. "Gender differences in competitiveness: Empirical evidence from professional distance running," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 389-398, June.
    4. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Maciej Młodzik & Patxi León-Guereño & Katarzyna Adamczewska, 2019. "Male and Female Motivations for Participating in a Mass Cycling Race for Amateurs. The Skoda Bike Challenge Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-13, November.
    5. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Joanna Poczta, 2018. "Running as a Form of Therapy Socio-Psychological Functions of Mass Running Events for Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, October.
    6. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Zuzana Botiková & Joanna Poczta, 2019. "“Because We Don’t Want to Run in Smog”: Problems with the Sustainable Management of Sport Event Tourism in Protected Areas (A Case Study of National Parks in Poland and Slovakia)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-20, January.
    7. Patrycjusz Zarębski & Grzegorz Kwiatkowski & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Ove Oklevik, 2019. "Tourism Investment Gaps in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-19, November.
    8. Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & José Ramón Alvero-Cruz & Elias Villiger & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "The Age-Related Performance Decline in Marathon Running: The Paradigm of the Berlin Marathon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-12, June.
    9. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Joanna Poczta & Katarzyna Adamczewska, 2019. "The Potential of Non-Mega Sporting Events for the Promotion of Physical Activity Among Inactive Supporters at the Poznan Half Marathon: A Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-12, October.
    10. Joanna Poczta & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2018. "Modern Running Events in Sustainable Development—More than Just Taking Care of Health and Physical Condition (Poznan Half Marathon Case Study)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Dariusz Wieliński & Katarzyna Adamczewska, 2020. "Perceived Benefits for Mental and Physical Health and Barriers to Horseback Riding Participation. The Analysis among Professional and Amateur Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & François Gravelle & Agata Dąbrowska & Patxi León-Guereño, 2020. "Do Years of Running Experience Influence the Motivations of Amateur Marathon Athletes?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Joanna Poczta & Agata Dąbrowska & Marek Kazimierczak & François Gravelle & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2020. "Overtourism and Medium Scale Sporting Events Organisations—the Perception of Negative Externalities by Host Residents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Joanna Poczta & Nuno Almeida & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2021. "Socio-Psychological Functions of Men and Women Triathlon Participation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-12, November.
    5. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Maciej Młodzik & Patxi León-Guereño & Katarzyna Adamczewska, 2019. "Male and Female Motivations for Participating in a Mass Cycling Race for Amateurs. The Skoda Bike Challenge Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-13, November.
    6. Joanna Poczta & Nuno Almeida & Małgorzata Paczyńska-Jędrycka & Ewa Kruszyńska, 2022. "The Impact of COVID-19 Incidence on Motivation to Participate in a Triathlon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-11, May.
    7. Basagaitz Guereño-Omil & Patxi León-Guereño & Eunate Garro & Mateusz Rozmiarek & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Maciej Młodzik & Arkadiusz Włodarczyk & Bartłomiej Łuć, 2024. "Motivations behind Active Sport Tourists Participating in Natural and Cultural Landscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-11, October.
    8. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Arkaitz Castañeda-Babarro & Patxi León Guereño, 2020. "On the Way to the Marathon—Motivation for Participating in Mass Running Events Among Children and Adolescents: Results of the Poznan Half Marathon Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-9, July.
    9. Jia Yang & Fang-Yuan Ju & Zu-Guo Tian, 2022. "Sports and Social Interaction: Sports Experiences and Attitudes of the Urban Running Community," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-14, November.
    10. Thomas Könecke & Holger Schunk & Tabea Schappel & Ine Hugaerts & Fabio Wagner & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2021. "German Marathon Runners’ Opinions on and Willingness to Pay for Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Patrycjusz Zarębski & Dominika Zwęglińska-Gałecka, 2020. "Mapping the Food Festivals and Sustainable Capitals: Evidence from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-23, December.
    12. Ewa Kruszyńska & Joanna Poczta, 2020. "Difficulties Limiting Access to Sports and Recreational Facilities in the City in the Perceptions of Service Users. Sports and Recreational Infrastructure Management Policy—Poznan Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-20, March.
    13. Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & Aïna Chalabaev & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "Motivation in the Athens Classic Marathon: The Role of Sex, Age, and Performance Level in Greek Recreational Marathon Runners," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-9, July.
    14. David Parra-Camacho & María Huertas González-Serrano & Rómulo Jacobo González-García & Ferran Calabuig Moreno, 2019. "Sporting Habits of Urban Runners: Classification According to Their Motivation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-18, December.
    15. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2022. "Recreational Running Motivations among Breast Cancer Survivors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-9, November.
    16. Brad Humphreys & Bernd Frick, 2019. "Prize Structure and Performance: Evidence from NASCAR," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-13, October.
    17. Maria Morfoulaki & Glykeria Myrovali & Kornilia-Maria Kotoula & Thomas Karagiorgos & Kostas Alexandris, 2023. "Sport Tourism as Driving Force for Destinations’ Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Beat Knechtle & Margarida Gomes & Volker Scheer & Robert Gajda & Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis & Lee Hill & Thomas Rosemann & Caio Victor Sousa, 2021. "From Athens to Sparta—37 Years of Spartathlon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-9, May.
    19. Dilmaghani, Maryam, 2021. "The gender gap in competitive chess across countries: Commanding queens in command economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 425-441.
    20. Isaac Taberner & Albert Juncà, 2021. "Small-Scale Sport Events as Place Branding Platforms: A Content Analysis of Osona’s Projected Destination Image through Event-Related Pictures on Instagram," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2019:i:1:p:116-:d:300987. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.