Beyond the Finish Line: Value Co-Creation and Value Co-Destruction in City Marathons From a Spectator Perspective

City marathons are often positioned as tools for urban branding and socioeconomic development, yet their value is negotiated through stakeholder experiences. This study investigates the 2025 Wuhan Marathon as a communication ecosystem where value co-creation and value co-destruction coexist. Drawing upon value co-creation, value co-destruction, and sport event research, this study examines how spectators’ event-related engagement and perceived disruptions are associated with event satisfaction, perceived city image, and perceived socioeconomic impact. Survey data from 431 spectators were analyzed using regression-based moderated mediation models. Results showed that value co-creation was positively associated with event satisfaction and indirectly with more favorable evaluations of Wuhan’s city image and the marathon’s socioeconomic impact. In contrast, value co-destruction was negatively associated with event satisfaction and indirectly with less favorable urban evaluations. Spectator identity did not significantly moderate these indirect associations. The findings position spectators as interpretive actors whose event-level experiences were associated with how favorably they appraised the very claims — city image, social value, economic worth — that anchor official accounts of marathon success.