Maintaining physical activity post-event? Case of the Tour of Flanders Cyclo in Belgium

Abstract

Social ecological theory describes how physical activity participation is influenced by various systems and targets. This study conceptualizes the organization of a participatory sport event as one such target and seeks to understand what other elements of the individual and community systems are important for event participants to be physically active. The case of the Tour of Flanders Cyclo, Belgium's most popular participatory cycling event, is examined. Data were collected from participants through an online survey both before (N = 1091) and after the event (N = 639). Although the individual profile of event participants was homogeneous, significant differences – especially in terms of physical activity participation – were found between the different event distances of 83, 133 and 259 km. Individual behaviour and community resources were important to facilitate engagement with physical activity, which has implications for organizing participatory sport events in conjunction with other community targets.

Keywords:

• cycling
• health promotion
• participatory sport event
• social ecological theory

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Golazo, the organizer of the Tour of Flanders Cyclo, for inviting event participants by email to complete the survey and for contributing five cycling jerseys that have been raffled off among respondents. We would also like to thank Stéphanie Deweer for her work translating the survey questions to French.

Notes on contributors

Inge Derom has a keen interest in examining whether hosting and leveraging participatory sport events could provide greater health outcomes when compared to spectator sport events. Being a native Belgian, she conducts a case study on the Tour of Flanders, an internationally known cycling event.

Robert VanWynsberghe has been the academic lead of the ‘Olympic Games Impact Study’ in Vancouver. This research is designed to objectively measure and assign attribution to the potential effects of hosting the Olympic Games. A question that inspires his research is: How can catalytic interventions, such as mega-events, impact local communities?

Jeroen Scheerder is associate professor at the KU Leuven. He is the head of the Policy in Sports and Physical Activity Research Group. His research focuses on policy-related and socio-economic aspects of sport and leisure time physical activity. Currently, he is the president of the European Association for Sociology of Sport (EASS).

Notes

1. In comparison, recreational cycling is the second most popular sport, with a prevalence of 31.2% among adult men and 20.6% among adult women (Scheerder et al. 2013). Recreational cycling can be completed on a regular bicycle and not necessarily on a racing bike. Furthermore, it can be completed individually and has no ties with a formal club.

2. The three items were the following: good street connectivity, mixed land use and activities that have been organized around the Tour of Flanders. Perhaps unreliable because most areas in Belgium – as opposed to the United States where most of the literature comes from – have good street connectivity and mixed land use. Furthermore, no additional activities for the Tour of Flanders Cyclo participants were organized on the day of the event.

3. Whether these resources are available in their communities, and whether these resources are of high quality was not measured in this study.