Marathon Minds Event at the Dana Centre

The American baseball coach, Yogi Berra, famously said 'Baseball is 90% mental; the other half is physical.' This body and mind relationship provided a central theme to the event.

An archived webcast of this event is available.

Three experts in the field of sports psychology presented different aspects of how psychology can play a part in sporting performance:

Hugh Richards, Sports Psychologist from the University of Edinburgh, talked about how people cope with endurance running. He had recently conducted research into how performance is affected by emotional pressure, by investigating psychological response in Ghurkhas in tropical climates.

Katherine Bond, Sports Psychologist from the University of Wales, focused on motivations for running. What, for example, are the issues surrounding well-being and running - how does running enhance the self? Is there such a thing as the 'runner's high'? Katherine also talked about the experience of female runners, how running contributes to their self-perception, and how it can affect the female runner both positively and negatively.

David Lucas, UK athletics coach focused on elite athletes. He explored the mental toughness strategies used before and during races by focusing on elite athletes and performance psychology.

The evening was rounded off with some sound advice: 'Not every run is going to be the best. You've got to accept that. So just go there, enjoy it and do your best.'