{
  "abstract": "BackgroundPhysical 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.ObjectiveThis 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.MethodsWe 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.ResultsMore 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.ConclusionReporting 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.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Original Research",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Gabriela A. Gallegos"
    },
    {
      "name": "Priya Patel"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jingjing Gao"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/72d3r15z41qr8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1910232",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1910232/full",
  "id": "72d3r15z41qr8",
  "issns": [
    "2296-2565"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1910232",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
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  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-09",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/72d3r15z41qr8.ris",
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "feed-journal:medicine/epidemiology-public-health",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Friend-based information sources for registration in a community-based triathlon: a cross-sectional study of adult participants in El Paso, Texas",
  "title_text": "Friend-based information sources for registration in a community-based triathlon: a cross-sectional study of adult participants in El Paso, Texas",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T18:20:21Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/72d3r15z41qr8",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Public Health",
  "versions": []
}