ECOS Europe is one the Project partners of RUN for HEALTH – Promoting health enhancing physical activity and social welfare through outdoor running events. The Project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, is coordinated by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – AUTH (Greece) will last 24 months (January 2019 – December 2020).
Beside ECOS, RUN for HEALTH sees the participation of European Association for Sport Management – EASM (Germany), the NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), the Mulier Institute (Netherlands) and the Lithuanian Sports University(Lithuania), and consists of four core claims:
- Comprehensive and systematic study of running events (from management, marketing, operation, policy and communication perspectives), in order to understand how these events can be used as a means to promote health-enhancing physical activity and social welfare.
- Develop: a) guidelines for effective health-enhancing physical activity promotion through running events and b) policy recommendations for using such events for health–enhancing physical activity promotion.
- Stimulate national and international exchanges among event organizers and policy-makers (local, regional and government authorities, sport federations, sport associations), with the goal to develop strategies on how health-enhancing physical activity can be promoted through running events.
- Increase awareness among the general population (citizens) about the health and social benefits of participating in running events as a leisure activity.