Abstract
Participating in ultramarathon footraces is a popular form of exercise for many South
African long-distance runners, regardless of the competitive level of the athlete. The
main purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the self-report reasons for
participating in the sport. The secondary purpose of this study was to determine the
effect of three demographic variables, namely gender, age, and race, on participative
motives for ultramarathon running. The Motivations of Marathoners Scales (MOMS),
which comprises of nine scales, was used as the principal psychometric instrument in
determining reasons for running and assessing these variables. The sample consisted
of 194 entrants of the 2003 City-to-City Heritage Day Ultramarathon. The results
indicated that the three most important participative motives for ultramarathon
running are health orientation, self-esteem, and personal goal achievement. Women
are less concerned with competition, personal goal achievement, and recognition/
approval than men are. With increasing age there is a decrease in importance of all the
MOMS-scales, except for psychological coping, the importance of which increases
over the years. The Black runners scored higher than the White runners did on eight
of the nine MOMS-scales – psychological coping being the exception – with
competition especially pronounced.
Prof. Gideon P. de Bruin