After years of being the butt of many a joke, actual real life research has proven that us joggers are viewed as being more attractive than surfers. Yes, you read that right, ignore their flowing locks and their ability to stride purposefully out of the sea despite the waves crashing down upon them and embrace the ill-fitting tight lycra look and having to wear gel to stop nipple chafe, because, we have beaten them in the attraction stakes.
We don’t just beat surfers either. In a list of the top 10 sports that Brits find the most attractive, runners come in third after Gym-goers (muscle heads!) and Swimmers (it is not even a natural sport for humans to do). Surfers, incidentally, come last in that list. The research was carried our by sporting retail brand Decathlon and over 7600 people took part in it.
The data also revealed that over half of the people asked said that they are more than likely to find someone attractive if they play a sport. 36% said that the person showing signs of being health conscious is what makes them more attractive. A slightly desperate sounding 12% said that they were attracted to people who play sport because it showed that they were able to commit to something. A spell of therapy may be needed for those 12%.
There were some statistics that have made the team at Jogger worried about the wider passions of the UK, especially seeing the bullies of the A and B Roads, cyclists, land in 4th place on the attractive stakes. Football came in 5th place, beating its arch rival Rugby that placed in 8th and even Sailing, which is surely not really a sport, placed higher than Surfers in the 9th slot.
The research forms part of Decathlon’s Activity Index. The index tracks the rates of participation in sports and other physical activities across the UK via a survey that is repeated every month of the year. Speaking about the results, Joshua Gutteridge from Decathlon said, “Playing sport and staying active shows yo are conscious about your health, improves muscle tone and are able to commit to something – and it is understandable that British find these traits attractive. Interestingly, a high proportion of people were more likely to take up a new sport if they knew it was deemed attractive, which is by no means a bad thing – anything that encourages us to exercise and stay active, even if – as in this case – it’s more of an unusual reason, can only be good”.
There we have it, if you are single and ready to mingle, forget about doing those surfing classes in Cornwall to try and find a partner and instead get yourself down to the local running track, or out on the streets via one of our beginner running tutorials.
