I feel like there's a lot of work that can be done to bridge the gap between the professional, broadcasted side of athletics and the people running at your local run club. Aside from the rare case of a record being broken, people don't seem to chat much about the competitive side of athletics. If I had to guess I'd say 90% of the people in my club who did City2Surf last year don't even know who Ed Goddard is, most have probably never even heard his name. As an enthusiastic hobby runner and not some bigwig (sorry to disappoint), my suggestion would be making these running events more accessible to watch and find ways to generate discussion about the results within these running communities.
Maybe at the next sold out local road race, give out free subscriptions to watch the upcoming athletic event. Maybe clubs can 'adopt a pro', where a small amount of the clubs membership cost goes directly to an athlete competing at these events, the pro in turn showing up to a couple of club meets to build rapport and support. Maybe we can televise some of the world majors or athletic events on free-to-air outside of the olympics. Whenever I'm out and about watching track events livestreamed on my laptop, I end up with someone watching the race over my shoulder asking questions and getting sucked in to it. People just need better access and a strong narrative to keep them interested and the sport will flourish.
Yes Cam, excellent comments!! I agree there's plenty of work to be done so that one day all the local parkrunners across the nation know who people like Ed Goddard are. The 'adopt a pro' idea could also work well if local shoe stores, the interface between the running industry and hobby joggers for those 90% of people who don't know the elite side of things, used the local Australian athletes promotional images in store as opposed to the generic model images in the brochures. If the big wigs don't take up your suggestions or mine, maybe Grattan House will have to just speed up it's plan to become a multi-national broadcasting behemoth and build those narratives!
I feel like there's a lot of work that can be done to bridge the gap between the professional, broadcasted side of athletics and the people running at your local run club. Aside from the rare case of a record being broken, people don't seem to chat much about the competitive side of athletics. If I had to guess I'd say 90% of the people in my club who did City2Surf last year don't even know who Ed Goddard is, most have probably never even heard his name. As an enthusiastic hobby runner and not some bigwig (sorry to disappoint), my suggestion would be making these running events more accessible to watch and find ways to generate discussion about the results within these running communities.
Maybe at the next sold out local road race, give out free subscriptions to watch the upcoming athletic event. Maybe clubs can 'adopt a pro', where a small amount of the clubs membership cost goes directly to an athlete competing at these events, the pro in turn showing up to a couple of club meets to build rapport and support. Maybe we can televise some of the world majors or athletic events on free-to-air outside of the olympics. Whenever I'm out and about watching track events livestreamed on my laptop, I end up with someone watching the race over my shoulder asking questions and getting sucked in to it. People just need better access and a strong narrative to keep them interested and the sport will flourish.
Yes Cam, excellent comments!! I agree there's plenty of work to be done so that one day all the local parkrunners across the nation know who people like Ed Goddard are. The 'adopt a pro' idea could also work well if local shoe stores, the interface between the running industry and hobby joggers for those 90% of people who don't know the elite side of things, used the local Australian athletes promotional images in store as opposed to the generic model images in the brochures. If the big wigs don't take up your suggestions or mine, maybe Grattan House will have to just speed up it's plan to become a multi-national broadcasting behemoth and build those narratives!