Leisure-time physical activity as a framework for understanding motivation, identity, and sport participation among aging women: Insights from the 2023 Kona Ironman World Championship

Abstract

Leisure-time physical activity plays a supportive and central role in healthy aging and offers an opportunity to learn how healthier aging can be negotiated in later life through sport. Aligned with Self-Determination Theory, which emphasizes autonomy, competence, and relatedness across diverse movement environments, rather than exclusively within structured or competitive settings, this study examined how high-intensity endurance sport functions as one pathway within a larger ecology of physical activity. Online snowball sampling was used to identify women triathletes, 18 years and older, and who were competing in the 2023 Kona Ironman World Championship race for study participation. Web based surveys were completed by N = 83 women participants who completed a 10-question demographic survey and the 56 item Motivations of Marathoners Scale for Triathletes (MOMS-T). Results indicated four items including: "To reduce my weight," "To improve my self-worth," "To feel a sense of belonging in nature," and "To have something in common with other people," were all significant at the p < .05 threshold. Older women (> 50 years old) were most motivated by having a sense of belonging in nature (M = 5; SD 1.4). Centering the lived experiences of women who engage in elite-level endurance sport, provided insight into motivation, meaning-making, and health within a highly specific and temporally bound context.