Best cities for endurance sports
While the capital gears up for the London Marathon, other cities across the UK continue to step up to the mark when hosting endurance sports events.
Findings from research conducted by MoneySuperMarket, show plenty of events can be found outside of London, and often at a fraction of the price.
The price comparison website looked into the best options in endurance sports events across running, swimming, cycling, triathlon and obstacle courses. This was based on typical cost of an event and the number of events held each year.
In terms of running events, perhaps unsurprisingly for its size, London came out as the top city. In 2016, runners had access to over 170 events at an average cost of £29.39. This compared to a national average cost of £27.55.
The next top location was Aberdeen, where the number of events was low, at only four, but the average cost was £9.96, £17.58 lower than the average.
Portsmouth was the most event-dense location outside of London. It came sixth in the running table, with 34 events during 2016, and an average cost of £28.20.
The top 10 in running were:
- London
- Aberdeen
- Bath
- Swansea
- Peterborough
- Portsmouth
- Manchester
- Sheffield
- Coventry
- Birmingham
Away from London, research revealed Coventry to be a triathlon hotspot, with 30 events held in 2016. This beat London’s total by one but came at a significantly lower average cost of £25.54, compared to London’s £40.20. The national average was £47.75.
The top 5 cities overall for endurance sports were:
Greater London – London had the highest number of events in all sports save for triathlon, with its weakest point being a mid-range score for obstacle courses or mud runs, like Tough Mudder.
Coventry – Coventry had the highest number of triathlons at 30 events, beating London by one – but also having a significantly lower average cost at only £25.54, compared to London’s £40.20 and a national average of £47.75.
Greater Manchester – Manchester scored highest individually for cycling events, with 136 in total, more than London (113 events), but at an average cost of £24, compared to London’s £9.65.
Bath – Had the third most running events in the country, and scored fourth on triathlons and obstacle courses, with an average cost of £28.14 across all sports.
Birmingham – Birmingham came fifth on swimming and triathlons, but only had 56 events overall, compared to London’s 356 and Manchester’s 175. Its average event cost was £28.69, slightly higher than the national average of £28.14.