Susan: “Where is your man going? The race starts in 5 minutes and we need to get to the start line.”
Helen: “He’s getting a coffee. We’ll meet him in the coffee shop when we’re done racing.”
Susan: Speechless!
I overheard this conversation years ago when I started taking part in run races. Unfortunately, similar situations – or worse – happen regularly. Recently, I watched a local long distance run and at the finish line, spectators were cheering, supportive and dancing to the live Samba band who got the crowd going. However, a kilometer before the finish line, the scene was different. The route had not been signposted or cordoned off, tourists stepped into runners’ paths, hardly anyone cheered. What a comedown.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, spectators at the Tour de France can come too close and at times be abusive to athletes. Back in 1975, Eddy Merckx was punched by a spectator as was Richie Port in 2015.
People not only step out in front of runners but also onto motor racing tracks as in the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2015. Even worse, some spectators are shouting abuse at athletes and officials who more and more often are being trained and coached on how to react to abuse. Ultimately, violent spectator incidents are not new and not limited to any particular type of sport as this Wikipedia list going back 140 years shows. Nowadays, these incidents are fortunately publicly discussed, no longer tolerated and actively cracked down on.
This should leave all of us to enjoy future sporting events as participants and spectators alike again. Right? It’s not quite that easy. After all, who exactly is a spectator? What is expected of spectators? And most importantly, why is is important to show up as a world class spectator?
According to the Oxford, Cambridge, MacMillan and Collins dictionaries and also dictionary.com, a spectator is “someone who watches a public activity or event, especially a sports event”. In other words, it can be anyone – including you. Sometimes, you can end up being a spectator without planning it. In 2016, I ended up watching the last leg of the Tour of Britain without knowing about it in advance.
Watching the cyclists go past at up to 45 km per hour was exhilarating. To put it into perspective: this is seven times the speed of standard traffic in central London, UK. So I stayed to watch the full race and cheer, applaud and show the athletes that Londoners are a good crowd and support sports.
In a nutshell, that is all that is expected of a spectator. They should be there, ready for when the athletes come past and then cheer as much as they can. Give your all!
If you don’t know how to cheer random strangers on, then look around and see what other people do. If they are quiet, then a simple applause is better than silence. If verbalizing your support is not your thing, how about creating your message on a sign and bringing it along? You could also do some upfront research and get tips on supporting and cheering.
The best cheers I’ve ever heard were at a triathlon where a visitor cheered as many people between the swim and the run leg of the triathlon as possible. He shouted out to individual participants without unnecessarily raising his voice, he made it personal by mentioning names or logos on outfits and most importantly, he was positive and injected some humor: “Look strong, run strong, Welsh dragon”, “Good stride length, Oxfam”, “Keep up the good work, Red Cross”. I still can hear his voice and picture the athletes when I think back.
From a spectator’s point of view, it helps to know about the event in question and get a spectator guide if possible. The Tour de France organizers are know for planning the route and schedule well in order to attract as many spectators on the sides of the roads as possible e.g. 2018 stage 10 time schedule with planned arrival times based on the cyclists’ speed. I think this is a great idea as long as all spectators behave and respect that the 176 riders who come past are doing their job when they cycle past.
Many organizers are aware of the importance of spectators on atmosphere and the revenue generated by spectators. As a result, they have started to cater for spectators as well and some good examples are the London Marathon, the Texas Ironman and the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Have a look if you can get the app, website or flyer for your sporting event and have a great day out.
If you need another reason to immerse yourself in the experience, a research paper from Bath University shows that “participation and sports spectatorship are symbiotically linked. In contrast, increase TV viewing per se leads to a reduction in participation.” Ask yourself: “What is the best that can happen when I go and watch?”
Whenever I see a live run like last weekend, I want to go for a run as well. In turn, hearing spectators cheer me on when I’m participating increases my own efforts in supporting athletes during their events.
In conclusion, whenever you get a chance, enjoy yourself when you watch a live sporting event and cheer for every person coming past. It doesn’t need to be a big event like the Olympics or motor racing, often participants in the smaller events need your support even more and you’ll have a more personalised experience. You may even start to sign up yourself.