Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak had a disastrous effect in the event industry. This has also heavily affected sport events with substantial disruptions, postponements, and even cancellations. The study focuses on Athens Marathon participants, and examines their perspectives concerning their willingness to support the restart of the event. The research was held in November 2021, during the restart of Athens Marathon at Kalimarmaro stadium in Athens, Greece. Drawing from a sample of 400 race runners in all three Athens Marathon races (5km; 10km; 42km), the research examines the chaordic systems of participants’ decision-making through the employment of fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The findings have generated three sufficient pathways (event loyalty; COVID-19 effect; brand protection) that are able to lead to the participants’ willingness to support the restart of Athens Marathon. The contribution of the study lies in both, theoretical and methodological domains, whilst it also provides several managerial implications.