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The Climbathon is an annual mountain running championship that takes place in Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Participants race to the peak (4,095.2 metres) and back, a distance of 21 kilometres of rainforest and mountain terrain, with a steep vertical gain of 2,300 metres. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the first 25 years of the Climbathon and to identify the key success factors behind the staging of this small-scale international sports event in Southeast Asia.

The research design for this study is interpretive, utilises a qualitative case study approach incorporating analysis of documents, oral history interviews, and personal observations gained through attendance and volunteering at the event which produced six insights, suggested as key success factors for the Climbathon. This study was guided by one key research question, to understand what has ensured the continuity of this small-scale international sports event known as the Climbathon.

Findings suggest the Climbathon has endured the test of time due to an innovative use of the summit trail, adherence to international sporting regulations, a pro sports tourism public policy led by the tourism ministry, membership to international sports organisations, corporate sponsorship, and a special sense of place towards Mount Kinabalu and the Climbathon for the event organisers, volunteers and officials.

This case study presents knowledge about the Climbathon but findings are not generalisable. Any application of the success factors would have to be as guidelines adapted for a specific sport event. The use of oral history as part of a case study is subjective and open to interpretation. Future work could incorporate interviews with participants, spectators, volunteers and the local sub-committees to gain alternative perspectives.

This study makes an original contribution to the events and tourism field by presenting a case study on the success factors of the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon. The study suggests a three pillar model of “Place-Plan-People” which may be used as a guiding philosophy for event development and delivery of small-scale international sports tourism events in Asia and elsewhere. The inclusion of oral history as part of a case study research design is novel and useful when knowledge is not available in any published form.

The purpose of this paper is to test if the service quality model, proposed by Shonk and Chelladurai (2008), can be applied in the context of a small-scale sport event.

This model proposes the following dimensions: access quality, venue quality and contest quality. Furthermore the study aimed to test if satisfaction acts as a mediator of the relationships between service quality and behavioral intentions.

The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided support for the factorial validity of the service quality model. The psychometric properties of all the scales were satisfactory. In terms of the mediation analysis the results provided partially support for the hypotheses. Satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between access, venue quality and intention and partially mediated the relationship between contest quality and intentions. Furthermore, satisfaction partially mediated all the relationships between the quality dimensions and word-of-mouth communications. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

This paper fulfils a need to develop a service quality model and its influence for visitors’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions at small-scale sport events.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate sports participants’ choice behaviour and draw useful conclusions about the ideal features of small-scale sporting events that maximize attractiveness and desirability among potential competitors to attend and compete.

Conjoint analysis was used to determine how participants value different elements and features of two small-scale cycling events, one in Taiwan and the other in Greece. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 195 cyclists during the event in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and to 169 competitors of a similar competition in Sfendami, Greece. It consisted of two basic parts. The first presented 19 alternative scenarios that have been associated with such sporting events while the second assessed the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of participant’s in order to provide an average profile of the participants in each location. The conjoint data collected was analysed using the SPSS “Conjoint Module” at the aggregate level (i.e. pooled data).

Based on the preferences of these amateur cyclists the most important factors for Taiwanese events are “preferred season to organizing the event”, “registration cost”, and “preferred time period”, while those participating in the Greek event emphasized “registration cost” and “scenery”. Overall, the analysis highlights five differences and five similarities that exist between these two countries.

The study is small-scale and although sample sizes are sufficient to be representative of the participants in each event there are limitations in generalizing these results to larger sports meetings and other countries.

The findings of this study provide event coordinators and sport marketers practical insights into small-scale event planning and the development of effective marketing strategies designed to appeal to a greater range of participants. Furthermore, the comparative nature of the study can facilitate a transfer of know-how which can be used for development of sport events in Mediterranean area, whose sport events’ organizers can, in the future, more effectively approach potential East Asian participants.

This is the first study to use a combination of seven parameters in conjoint analysis to examine amateur cyclists’ preferences and is one on the few studies to examine the differences between Asian and European participants.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the strategic leveraging goals associated with a portfolio of small-scale events and to analyze their implementation process (actors/tactics: who did what?) in order to propose new leverage typologies through new empirical research evidence.

Three techniques of data collection conducted the fieldwork: qualitative interviewing, direct observation and documental research. Based on the principles of grounded theory and using qualitative data analysis software (Nvivo) data were inductively analyzed.

Results showed the coexistence of a plurality of strategic leveraging goals, namely: “strengthen political advantage”; “integrate and retain partners/sponsors”; and “develop sports dynamics”. There was a set of tactics and actions identified and successfully implemented due to the coordination of the network of organizations part of the events, which included local and external actors.

Researchers realized that it was impossible to take a neutral research stand. In fact, in qualitative research, the investigator is the first instrument of data collection. In this sense, it was important for researchers to constantly reflect on their role, as Pelias (2011) says “reflexive writing strategies include indicating how the researcher emerged as a contaminant, how the researcher´s insider status was revelatory or blinding, and how the researcher is implicated in the problem being addressed” (p. 662). It is also considered that, when organizing events, the network of interactions is extremely complex, making it difficult to capture all the actors’ perspectives.

In relation to the practical implications, it is important that sports event managers have in-depth knowledge and skills on event leveraging; it is also important that managers understand the sports culture in order to recognize the multidimensionality of strategic leveraging in sporting events. The strategic dynamic should be developed and coevolved with community/local and external actors. The coordination between the actors is a key point to achieve successful leveraging.

A theoretical implication related to the event leverage is the creation of a new strategic objective – “developing the sport dynamics”. The sport participation tactic among other tactics were found, namely “enhancing of the sports shows” and “tuning of skills in sports management”.

The dynamics and plurality of strategic goals associated with the leverage of an event portfolio, namely the actions that were developed and also the actors’ interaction in small-scale events. Another factor is the identification of the prominent role of the external event organization committee in the dynamics of event leveraging, as well as the deep analysis of the leveraging process supported by the observation of all the events.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among brand experience, sports event image and loyalty in the Jeju International Ultramarathon Race.

Data were collected from 313 ultramarathon runners during the 16th Jeju International Ultramarathon Race. Statistical analyses were carried out using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

An analysis of the relationship between brand experience and sports event image revealed that affective experience is the most influential dimension, followed by sensory and behavioral experiences. However, intellectual experience showed insignificant relationship. Sports event image indicated a positive effect on word-of-mouth and revisit intention.

Ultramarathon races are sporting events with few participants, even though it is becoming more popular. The attitude, motivation and personality of people participating in these races may be different in terms of the extreme characteristic and endurance level of sports activity. If the results of this study need to be generalized with other sports event images, a comparative study may help to understand the personality traits of people participating in ultramarathon races and other sports.

As ultramarathon races are not yet popular sports, to target more people, behavioral experience has an influential role because it is action oriented and actively engages the body. Enriching consumer life by facilitating and creating opportunities to physically experience as well as showing them alternate ways of doing things may attract them to substitute lifestyle and interactions (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Few other popular endurance race events organize short-distance races and kid races for fun (e.g. Lavaredo Ultra trail race), to engage friends and family members before the start of the main event. Doing so may provide an opportunity to attract more runners, and they may engage in running activities and participate in these kinds of events later, after having this sort of casual experience.

Social networking sites may be used to maintain continuous interaction with the runners and followers. Supporting a social cause is another measure to generate the intellectual experience of sports events. The result of this study shows no significant relationship between intellectual experience and the sports event image. To increase the worldwide popularity of this race and to attract more international runners, a judicious use of web platforms may be an option to maintain regular contact with a wider group of audience.

This study is the first to examine the relationship between brand experience and sports event image in an ultramarathon event context. Findings contribute to an understanding of the impact of brand experience on sports event image, thereby influencing the loyalty of runners participating in an ultramarathon event.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse quantitative and qualitative image aspects of destinations hosting a small‐scale sport event, as perceived by spectators and participants.

A survey was conducted at different sport events hosted by destinations in a rural setting. The data are analysed using confirmatory factor analyses and correspondence analyses.

The results suggest several differences between the image perception of participants and spectators. These can be attributed to different levels of involvement, which is very high for participants. The perception of the qualitative image aspects showed that unique features were associated with the destination, such as sport themes or organizational aspects of the sport event visited. Further, it is shown that the quantitatively measured indicators of affective destination image have a great influence on the image of rural sport event tourism destinations.

A research limitation could arise due to the sample, as almost all sport tourists were German. A more international sample might have shown different results. Future research should analyse samples of different sports, concluding whether the sport performed also influences behaviour.

For marketing communications it is essential to utilise emotions to promote the destination, as they are a very essential element of destinations hosting sport events.

This research contributes to the understanding of images held by spectators and participants of small‐scale sport events hosted in rural destinations. The value is the large sample, consisting of various rural destinations, which allows for general patterns of the perceived image to be drawn.

Sports tourism has become an important element of reconstruction, and also considered as a strong tourist activity for tourism development and recovery. Therefore, the main aim of current research is to study the economic impact of sporting events on host communities based on stakeholder theory in Aras Free Zone of Iran and how it may contribute to rejuvenating tourism destination. Qualitative method has been used for the aim of this chapter. A semi-structured interview is applied for data collection. The sampling method was purposive sampling with maximum diversity or heterogeneity. 21 stakeholders have been interviewed who involved in the Iran-Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour or the International Traditional Archery Competition – Aras Geopark Cup. Potential cycling tour stakeholders are selected to conduct in-depth interviews in terms of the economic impact of sport tourism events specifically cycling tours which can be operated by social distancing rules in Aras Free Zone, Iran. The interviews were analysed by thematic analysis. Extracted codes were categorised into four themes: infrastructure development and services, increased awareness of the host community, managerial and policy development, business development, and investment. This study suggests that small scale sports tourism could be considered as motivation drivers in emerging tourist destinations; Specifically, those sports that can be practiced in the pandemic situation following physical distancing such as cycling. The findings of this study help to policymakers and destination marketers to use appropriate sports tourism events as a tool for economic development and tourism recovery of destinations. Managerial implications and limitations are discussed.

To examine the social impact of a small-scale sporting event and its influence on the willingness to support future events.

A self-supplied questionnaire was used with 248 residents-sportspeople that participated in the Valencia Triathlon. Descriptive analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factorials were done through SPSS, FACTOR and EQS.

Three dimensions of positive impacts were identified; sporting participation and city image, social development and human capital and economic development. The impacts in sporting participation and in the improvement to the image of the city contribute to positively explaining the willingness to support the holding of sporting events. Local sportspeople highlight their participative component and the projection of the city image as key factors to endorse holding future sporting events as a strategy for tourism.

The convenience sampling limits the extrapolation of the results.

Making the most of the intangible aspects is recommended due to the great potential these events have to generate social capital and increase the networks of social collaboration. Give a more active role to volunteers and local organizers in an organization. Transmit the pride of the community and the sense of belonging to this community to the media and advertising communication.

Small scale sporting events can contribute to improving the quality of life, increasing pride, the sense of belonging of the residents, opportunities for entertainment and encouraging local participation.

A contribution to the empirical analysis of the social impact of small-scale sporting events from the perspective of local participants.

This chapter aims to present and analyze how the methodology/approach of service blueprinting may contribute to managing and offering high quality experiences to sport tourists.

In this study we use a combination of theoretical tools to develop a finalized services blueprint map for sport events. The method consists of a literature review and a presentation of empirical findings. First, using a case study, we present the process through which a small-scale sport event blueprint map was constructed. Secondly, based on a meeting with the management staff and the use of diaries, we analyze the comments of tourists in the sport event area. Thirdly, we compare and describe the main contact points between the front-line staff and sport event tourists in a service blueprint. Finally we apply the six dimensional construct domain analysis of service experiences and combine this information in a table format for the Failure, Effect, and Action analysis.

This study shows that observation, diaries, service blueprints, comment management, and FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) are a range of corporate research approaches and management tools that can offer new insights into the theory and praxis of service management applications and can improve the experiences of sports tourists.

This study is related to sport rural events. Researchers have to check with the same method to study the results also in other sport events.

The analysis of Small-Scale Sport Event Services Blueprinting can be combined with other useful managerial tools, like the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis to better manage the contact points, the “moments of truth” of tourist experiences in the sport event service system. In addition, the SMF case study shows that it is useful to point out the problematic areas in the service system using combined methods and managerial tools with the aim of enhancing and contributing to better manage sport tourism event experiences.

It presents the new idea of combining theoretical constructs and measurement tools in order to blueprint, analyze, and create service customer experiences.