‘I can’t outrun a bear, but I can outrun you:’ sport contests, nature challenge activities and outdoor recreation

ABSTRACT

The old adage has two people out hiking who run into a bear. One starts running while the other asks ‘why are you running? You can’t outrun a bear’. To which the other responds, ‘I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you’. Hiking/trekking is not typically a competitive endeavor characterized by contests but, like many endeavors/pursuits/activities, competition can be injected into it; thereby sportifying it. Swimming is a sport (under certain conditions). At the same time, it is also a recreational activity and a form of physical exercise; likewise angling/fishing, climbing, cross-country skiing, mountain biking, kayaking, rowing, surfing, et al. The categorization of many activities under the umbrella of sport has it uses to understand the wider concept of what is sport, but the purpose of why one engages in ‘physical activities taking place in a natural environment’ can sometimes be more important than whether some activities might or might not qualify to be classified under the rubric of sports at all. Indicators exist to show whether participants are actually engaged toward—driven in a way, even—to further their skills in their focused activity (if it is a focused activity at all!––i.e. a ‘serious leisure’ pursuit or just a recreational hobby). From this perspective (of looking at sport-like and sporting activities in other than Olympic-style forms) this paper explores the differentiations between sport (including nature sport) contests, nature challenge activities (NCAs) and outdoor recreation from the standpoint of the most relevant factors that distinguish them: rules, skill development, purpose for engaging in them. This paper also makes the case that differentiating participants in the above activities by purpose (as either nature challenge recreationalists or nature sport devotees) has utility; to better help research into people’s engagement in physical activities in natural environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Philosophy of sport
• serious leisure
• nature sports
• nature challenge
• golf

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In the spirit of Robert Stebbins’ (2014, 8) term of devotee work, for which people have ‘an aptitude and a taste for’ and find fulfillment in specific endeavors, I will characterize serious leisure nature sport enthusiasts as nature sport devotees.

2. Original French: ‘Sa définition s’est donc élargie et les activités physiques se déroulant en milieu naturel ne pouvaient rester longtemps en dehors de cette “sportivisation” de la société’.

3. Original French: ‘Le surf s’est “sportivisé” en s’institutionnalisant et en organisant ses propres competitions’.

4. Of course, such has been facilitated by airline deregulation, the expansion of investment in tourism infrastructure and increases in discretionary income for many people (but of course maybe not for even a majority in even Europe or North America).

5. Not all physical activities engaged in outdoors, of course, are NCAs (e.g. walking, jogging, playing football, tennis, etc.) and a number of NCAs can be not at all physically challenging (such as wildlife photography, bird watching, etc.).