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SCIENTIFIC LETTER
Abstract
There are numerous news items and articles in the Spanish media that underline the boom in fun runs in Spain. This paper aims to check with sociological rigor whether the number of runners has increased in recent years. In order to achieve this objective, the three latest national surveys of sports habits in Spain were analyzed. These surveys were conducted by the Sociological Research Center and sponsored by the Higher Sports Council in 2000, 2005, and 2010. The data indicate there was an increase in the practice of running between the end of the 20th century and the end of the first decade of the 21st century, from 3.8% runners in 2000 to 5.1% in 2010. It is also worth noting that in Spain in 2010 there were nearly two million people aged over 14 who were runners.
Keywords: running, jogging, sociology of sport
Running or jogging is a sport of easy access due to, among other reasons, its low cost when compared with other sports. Perhaps, for this reason, it is often found in the media, headlines as "Running: the democracy of sport" (Munt, 2013); or, for example, other headlines that postulate popular races are an increasing social practice, such as: "Another record for the boom of popular races" (Justribó, 2009) or "The irresistible sprint of running" (Pérez & Montañés, 2014). However, are true these headlines? Is it true that the Spanish society is changing and it has increased the number of runners?
To answer these questions, we have analyzed the three latest National Surveys of the Sporting Habits in Spain, which were conducted by the Sociological Research Center (CIS) and sponsored by the Higher Sports Council. These studies were conducted every five year during the years 2000, 2005 and 2010, using big sample sizes; in particular, respectively, 5,180, 8,170 and 8,925 people. At the same time, it is worth stressing that these surveys have high reliability and an excellent technical quality (García-Ferrando, 2001, 2006; García-Ferrando & Llopis-Goig, 2011). In the case of this study, data were provided and authorized by the CIS, and the research was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Autonomous University of Madrid.
In all of these surveys, participants were asked about if they practice any...