Porównanie dwóch międzynarodowych maratonów w kontekście turystyki sportowej

Abstrakt

In the current time of human inactivity running becomes an ideal compensatory means, which acts as prevention against civilization diseases that are is some way affected by the lack of physical activity. In addition to the beneficial physical effect of running on the human body, we can observe a positive impact on psychological indicators as well. Marathon race represents one of the most challenging athletic disciplines in the physiological and psychological terms. In a positive way, it affects cardiovascular, musculoskeletal systems and can act as a stress relieving mediator [5]. We may argue that the dominant motivation of the majority of the marathon runners is completion of the race, for which participant must be systematically trained. Seeing that, marathon races become more and more popular every year and they grow both in quality and quantity [5]. Every year, there are many marathons races organized in the world. Their participants are doing well and overcoming themselves. In our paper we analyze the two oldest marathon races in the world in particular, the Boston Marathon in the US and the International Peace Marathon in Kosice. As a method for examining individual events, we have select comparison and SWOT analysis. The history of Boston and Košice marathons creates an important marketing element, that is used to form valuable incentive for promoting the event. While the Boston marathon is considered the oldest marathon in the world, the Košice marathon is the oldest marathon on the European continent and the third oldest in the world. Our analysis shows that both marathons are in a favorable position. An offensive marketing strategy suggests the predominance of strengths over weaknesses and opportunities over threats. From the profile of the cultural point of view and the time of the year, the Kosice Marathon is more attractive and acceptable for some participants than the Boston marathon, where the runners experience much more difficult course. Nevertheless, based on strengths, both events are able to use their opportunities, which predisposes them to consolidate and improve their position in the everlasting competition of international marathons.