Vývoj pozície Medzinárodného maratónu mieru v Košiciach v systéme maratónov sveta a Európy

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to analyse the position of the marathon in Košice in the system of world and European marathons. We provide an overview of trends of urban circuits of the tracks, the exponential growth of participants, the increase of the women runners and the age diversity of runners, the slowdown of average performances against the background of specific marathons, but at the same time constant improvement of the best performances. Following the example of a marathon in Košice, the paper analyses the geographical aspect of a sporting event in the wider context of other activities of the city of Košice (in recent years the European city in three spheres). We also emphasize comparison of marathons in Košice, Eindhoven and Ljubljana in terms of diversity, number of participants, foreign participation, and sponsors. To achieve this, we evaluate the literature in the field of sports geography, we select and analyse statistical data from event websites and we present them in the form of tables, graphs and maps. We draw attention to the growing importance of marathons as events affecting cities. The results confirm that the long tradition of the event is not enough to compete with much younger marathon runs in the cities of similar size such as Ljubljana and Eindhoven. The importance of the Košice Peace Marathon results from many factors, including long tradition, number of runners and spectators, number of foreign runners, geographical location, marketing, or financial benefits.