Splitting the peleton: segmenting attendees at a participatory cycling event using recreational specialisation

This paper argues that recreation specialisation is a useful means for segmenting participants in participatory cycling events, particularly for event evaluation research. Segmenting event participants according to their level of recreation specialisation may contribute to a more comprehensive insight into attendees’ needs, preferences and satisfaction than segmentation based on elementary demographic variables. In this paper, a two-step clustering method for segmenting attendees at a participatory cycling event according to level of recreation specialisation is tested. The research used data collected from the 2010 Audax Alpine Classic, a participatory cycling event that is an important Summer-time tourism drawcard for Victoria’s Alpine region. Results indicated that although participants in this event generally exhibited high levels of recreation specialisation in relation to cycling, this population could be segmented into two distinct clusters: ‘intermediate’ and ‘expert’. Management implications are discussed along with suggestions for future research.