Opinion: As one of the runners counting down the hours to Sunday morning, I'm fully convinced that the benefits of marathon running outweigh any costs
This Sunday thousands of runners will take to the streets of our capital to run the 44th Dublin marathon. Many more will line the route supporting family, friends, and total strangers, and volunteer at bag drops or water stations, ensuring the event runs smoothly. As with any major event in the city centre, disruptions are inevitable, and the event has its detractors. Two years ago the marathon was almost moved out of the city centre due to claims of disproportionate adverse impacts on commuters.
As one of the runners counting down the hours to my wave start Sunday morning, I'm fully convinced that the benefits of marathon running outweigh any costs. As an economist, I’m generally sceptical of economic impact assessments. When it comes to the marathon however, this type of analysis actually hugely underestimates the economic benefits.
Estimated economic impact is a tried and tested way of convincing sponsors and other stakeholders of the benefits of a particular event. Typically, this is done by estimating the direct spending by participants or attendees on costs such as tickets, travel, or accommodation, then adding in tax revenues, money raised for charity, and an estimated multiplier effect from this additional money circulating in the economy.
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From RTÉ Archives, An RTÉ News report broadcast on 25 October 1982 on the third ever Dublin marathon
Using this approach, an analysis of the top 50 marathons in the world found an impact of $71 million for the Dublin marathon, making it 19th in the world in terms of economic impact. One problem however is that we can’t tell how much of the spending is actually additional spending and therefore a boost to the economy. To quantify this, we would need to know how much of the spending only occurred because of the marathon and would not have been spent otherwise, and how much of the spending simply displaced other spending, in other words how much money was not spent because people stayed at home to avoid the disruption of the marathon. These types of economic impact assessments therefore typically overestimate the economic impact of events, as they don’t consider these other factors.
However, when it comes to events like the marathon, there are also huge positive externalities associated with participating in the event. In economics an externality is defined as a positive or negative impact on individuals external to a market, due to byproducts resulting from either the consumption or production of the good. In the case of marathon runners, there are individual health benefits to participation. The overwhelming evidence is that physical activity in general reduces all-cause mortality, but endurance running in particular optimises overall health and reduces the risks of non-transmissible diseases. These benefits accrue not just to the individual runners, but to society more broadly by reducing the burden on the health service. A WHO report calculated that at current levels of inactivity globally, direct healthcare costs due to preventable diseases will reach $520 billion by 2030. Events like the marathon facilitate and incentivise increased levels of physical activity, reducing these costs, benefitting both healthcare users and the economy overall.
Read more: Solidarity, support & signs: why we cheer on marathon runners
Beyond the direct health benefits of running, the sense of community and common purpose among runners facilitates social connection, especially if you run in a group or with a club. A recent EU survey found that Ireland is the loneliest country in Europe, with one in five people feeling lonely most or all of the time.
Additionally, women’s participation in sport and leisure activities has fallen in recent years as their participation in the workforce as increased. Consequently, Ireland’s progress towards gender equality has stalled. The EU Gender Equality Index shows that in the domain of social activities (sport, culture, or leisure outside the home) we experienced the second-largest decrease in equality among all Member States, with only 10% of women participating in these activities several times a week, compared to 24% of men.
Loneliness and social isolation are linked to negative health outcomes, including higher risks of heart disease, stroke, and infection. In addition to negatively impacting the health and well-being of individuals, these high levels of social isolation and inequality impact society and the economy through a higher cost burden on our health services.
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From RTÉ Brainstorm, What happens to your body when you run a marathon?
Joining a club or running group can serve both as a commitment device to increase physical activity and as an antidote to loneliness. Having regular training times scheduled and people to meet and run with can be particularly important for women who tend to spend more time in caring activities and are less likely to carve out time for themselves.
Having ran solo when I was younger, I joined the Dundrum South Dublin Athletics Club (DSD) Meet Train Race Group just over two years ago with the intention to train for my first marathon. My main motivation for joining was accessing the fantastic coaches and the state of the art running campus. What I didn’t anticipate is the number of wonderful new friendships with people of all ages and from all walks of life, built over many miles of running together. I’m not alone in benefitting from running with others; a survey of over 13,000 runners in England found that almost 9 in 10 said that their happiness increased as a direct result of running with a group.
No doubt there will be lots of money spent in Dublin city centre this weekend as people travel from across Ireland and beyond to support the runners or participate in the marathon. There may be attempts to quantify the spending boost to businesses, but the real impact of the event is so much larger. It’s hard to describe the camaraderie, togetherness, and raw emotions felt by runners in a marathon, and the sense of pride and achievement at the finishing line is priceless.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
