RESEARCH Irish Sports Council Publishes Study on the Flora Women's Mini-Marathon

Waterford Institute of Technology investigated whether participating in the Mini-Marathon makes women more active and what strategies can be used to support them staying active.

The Flora Women's Mini-Marathon is the largest event of its kind in the world. A research study published today by the Irish Sports Council investigated the physical activity behaviour of over 11,000 women who participated in the 2007 event, a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact of high profile events on long term engagement with sport.

The research found that women increased their activity levels in the build up to the Mini Marathon which then decreased over time after the event. The study identified a number of areas where women could be supported in their efforts to stay active.

'Meet and Train' groups were identified by two thirds of the participants as a way to support women who wish to get active for the mini-marathon and as a way to maintain activity levels after the event. The Council is committed to supporting the development of such groups as well as to help generate awareness for existing groups.

The report also highlighted the fact that the overwhelming majority of women took part to raise money for charity with over 280 charities being represented at the event. The Council will seek to engage with this sector as another potential avenue to provide support to women who wish to train for the event or simply join up with their local Meet and Train group. The Council intends to provide a pack to all charities represented in the mini-marathon with details of contacts for local Meet and Train groups and events, how to set up a group and training tips including nutritional information.

The majority of participants indicated that more local events would help to increase their activity levels. The mini-marathon is currently oversubscribed with half of all participants from Dublin. More local events would help alleviate this problem as well as providing activity opportunities for women outside the Dublin region. The Council will help to generate awareness of these events as well as support development of new and existing events through the Local Sports Partnership network.

The Council will work with the all interested parties involved in providing advice and resources to participants in the Mini Marathon to order to maximize the benefits of their participation in this hugely popular event.

For more information on the Flora Mini-Marathon study including contact information for local 'Meet and Train' groups, charity listings, training tips and links to entering this year's event please visit www.irishsportscouncil.ie/participation/mini-maraton . For information on the Fit4Life programme, please visit www.athleticsireland.ie. For information regarding participating in the Mini Marathon or contacting a charity, please visit www.florawomensminimarathon.ie.

The report is titled "The impact of participation in the Flora women's mini-marathon on physical activity behaviour in women". It was written by Niamh Murphy and Aoife Lane of the Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Science at the Waterford Institute of Technology and Professor Adrian Baumann at the University of Sydney, Australia. It was carried out as part of the Irish Sports Council's research progamme and is available here and www2.wit.ie

For further information regarding the research report, please contact:

• Peter Smyth, Research Manager, Irish Sports Council 087-6846713
• Tony Cunningham, Research Executive, Irish Sports Council 087-9922857
• Niamh Murphy, Waterford Institute of Technology, 086-8317630