Friend-based information sources for registration in a community-based triathlon: a cross-sectional study of adult participants in El Paso, Texas

Background Physical inactivity remains a major public health challenge in the United States and contributes to preventable chronic disease burden. Border-region communities such as El Paso, Texas, experience intersecting social, geographic, and structural conditions that may shape opportunities for physical activity. Community-based endurance events may provide accessible opportunities for structured physical activity, yet little is known about how adult registrants learn about these events. Objective This study examined information sources for registration in a community-based sprint-distance triathlon among adult registrants in El Paso, Texas, with a focus on reporting a friend as the information source. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of retrospective registration data from the Eagle in the Sun Triathlon for 2015–2019 and 2021–2022. After de-duplication and exclusion of participants younger than 18 years or with incomplete data, the final analytic sample included 1,919 adults. The primary outcome was reporting a friend as the information source for the event, coded as “from a friend” vs. all other information sources. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression models were used to examine associations between reporting a friend-based information source and participant age, gender, and event type. Results More than half of participants reported learning about the event from a friend (57.63%), making it the most common information source. A friend-based information source was reported by 57.90% of male participants and 57.30% of female participants. Team-based participants were more likely to report a friend-based information source than individual participants (70.37% vs. 52.04%). In regression models, increasing age was associated with lower odds of reporting a friend-based information source, and individual-event participants had significantly lower odds of reporting a friend-based information source than team-based participants. Interaction terms between age, gender, and event type were not statistically significant. Conclusion Reporting a friend as the information source was common among registrants for this community-based endurance event, particularly among team-based participants. These findings suggest that outreach for community-based endurance events may benefit from attention to interpersonal communication, peer referral, relay/team formats, and community-based programming, although future research is needed to determine whether these strategies increase registration, participation, or physical activity. Because participant-level race and ethnicity were not available, findings should be interpreted as describing registrants in an event held in a predominantly Latine border-region community, rather than as direct evidence of patterns among Latine participants specifically.