Event Leveraging and Health Promotion: the Case of the Tour of Flanders
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EVENT LEVERAGING AND HEALTH PROMOTION: THE CASE OF THE TOUR OF FLANDERS by INGE DEROM M.A., University of Windsor, 2009 M.A., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Kinesiology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2014 © Inge Derom, 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines event leveraging for health promotion with the outcome of increasing physical activity participation. The case of the Tour of Flanders (Flemish: Ronde van Vlaanderen) is unique because it is a medium-sized, joint spectator and participatory sport event. Although the literature provides examples of social event leveraging for health promotion, one of the limitations of the existing social event leveraging framework is that it does not integrate any concepts and principles of the field of health promotion. Therefore, social ecological theory has been applied to further examine event leveraging through an understanding of systems and targets. In doing so, a socioeconomic event leveraging framework for health and physical activity has been developed and proposed. Qualitative interviews were conducted with former and current event organisers of the Tour of Flanders (i.e., Het Nieuwsblad and Flanders Classics), start and arrival host cities (i.e., Sint-Niklaas, Ninove, Bruges, and Oudenaarde), and municipalities that hosted the Village of the Tour (i.e., Zwalm, Torhout, and Rekkem). In addition to interviews, quantitative surveys were administered with participants from the 2013 edition of the Tour of Flanders Cyclo, before (N = 1,091) and after the event (N = 639). The findings confirmed the socioeconomic nature of event leveraging aimed at increasing bicycle tourism in the region, as both the properties of the event and the context of the host were recognised as leverageable resources. The use of Flanders’ cycling heritage was an excellent tactic to inspire host residents and international visitors to actively participate in new cycling initiatives. Social ecological theory promoted consultation between the event organiser and the host government to develop initiatives that complemented each other in terms of systems and targets. Environmental targets were employed by the regional government by developing new cycling infrastructure and organising participatory cycling events, whereas individual targets were employed by the municipal government by providing cycling education to children. The findings provided sound evidence for organising joint spectator and participatory sport events to promote physical activity participation, while at the same time leveraging these events by providing physical, structural, and social resources in the host community. ii Preface Ethics approval for the project hosting and leveraging the Tour of Flanders was received from the Behavioural Research Ethics Board at The University of British Columbia on November 27, 2012. The certificate of approval was minimal risk and the certificate number was H12-03172. A summary of chapters 4, 5, and 6 has been accepted for publication [Derom, I., & VanWynsberghe, R. (in press). Extending the benefits from cycling events: Evidence from the Tour of Flanders. European Sport Management Quarterly. doi:10.1080/16184742.2014.997772]. Inge Derom was the lead investigator, responsible for all major areas of conception and design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, as well as manuscript composition. She also responded to the reviewers’ comments and approved the final proofs prior to publication. Dr. Rob VanWynsberghe was involved as the supervisory author and helped in conception and design, as well as manuscript composition. He also contributed to manuscript edits. A version of chapter 7 has been accepted for publication [Derom, I., VanWynsberghe, R., & Scheerder, J. (in press). Maintaining physical activity post-event? Case of the Tour of Flanders Cyclo in Belgium. Annals of Leisure Research. doi:10.1080/11745398.2014.932699]. Inge Derom was the lead investigator, responsible for all major areas of conception and design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, as well as manuscript composition. She also responded to the reviewers’ comments and approved the final proofs prior to publication. Dr. Rob VanWynsberghe was involved as the supervisory author and helped in conception and design, as well as manuscript composition. He also contributed to manuscript edits. Dr. Jeroen Scheerder contributed to data collection, analysis, and interpretation, as well as manuscript edits. iii Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... ii Preface........................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Topic of the dissertation ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Context of the research........................................................................................................ 6 1.3 Purpose of the dissertation ................................................................................................ 16 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 24 2.1 Event leveraging................................................................................................................ 24 2.2 Social event leveraging ..................................................................................................... 28 2.3 Social event leveraging for health promotion ................................................................... 31 2.4 Social ecological theory .................................................................................................... 38 2.5 Cycling infrastructure........................................................................................................ 43 2.6 Participatory cycling events .............................................................................................. 48 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 55 3.1 Pragmatic assumptions ...................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Qualitative interview and document data .......................................................................... 57 3.3 Quantitative survey data .................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER 4 LEVERAGEABLE RESOURCES ................................................................ 84 4.1 Road cycling’s potential .................................................................................................... 85 4.2 Ready to host the Tour of Flanders ................................................................................... 87 4.3 Event leveraging as the new challenge ............................................................................. 97 4.4 Chapter summary ............................................................................................................ 103 CHAPTER 5 LEVERAGING PROCESSES ..................................................................... 106 5.1 Village of the Tour .......................................................................................................... 107 5.2 Centennial Tour ............................................................................................................... 115 5.3 Chapter summary ............................................................................................................ 120 iv CHAPTER 6 LEVERAGING INITIATIVES ................................................................... 127 6.1 Centennial Tour ............................................................................................................... 130 6.2 Village of the Tour .......................................................................................................... 140 6.3 Chapter summary ............................................................................................................ 147 CHAPTER 7 PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OUTCOMES ....................................................... 152 7.1 Profile of event participants ............................................................................................ 154 7.2 Physical activity participation ......................................................................................... 157 7.3 Promoting physical activity participation ....................................................................... 160 7.4 Promoting