The University of Ulster’s sporting experts are carrying out research to find out if taking part in large-scale exercise events encourages people to take up healthier lifestyles.

The School of Sports Studies is carrying out the research in partnership with Waterford Institute of Technology, to see if participants in the events within the Deep River Rock Belfast City Marathon on Monday 4 May take up healthy activities because of the race.

The online questionnaire asks runners and walkers a series of lifestyle questions to find out how active they are. It is hoped that a follow-up study will determine whether or not the walkers and runners continued staying active after the events.

Dr Marie Murphy, Head of the School of Sports Studies, says: “This research with the Deep River Rock Belfast City Marathon builds on research from our colleagues in Waterford IT and will aim to assess the effect that these big running and walking events have on wider society and if they have a long-term  impact on physical activity levels.

“If these events provide a stimulus to sustained participation in physical activity among people who were previously inactive then they may result in a healthier population and a reduction in risk for a number of chronic diseases increasingly prevalent in our society, including obesity and being overweight."

The findings will contribute to a larger research project undertaken on the Dublin and Cork mini-marathons by Dr Niamh Murphy from the Centre for Health Behaviour Research, Waterford IT.

The researchers at Ulster are hoping more than 4,000 runners and walkers will respond to the questionnaire.

Participants in the events at the Deep River Rock Belfast City Marathon can carry out the survey by logging on to www.science.ulster.ac.uk/sports and clicking on ‘marathon survey’. One lucky respondent will receive a £200 sports gift voucher.

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter