Throughout Tamriel, there are plenty of Arenas, where participants are hurled into battle against men or mer or monster. This is usually a very exciting and interesting display, but, the Arena as an entity must feel a tad lonely, seeing as it appears to be the only for of Athletic competition on the face of Nirn.

I had always wondered what the peoples of Tamriel do for fun. Now, good lore buffs and buffesses, can you please tell me, aside from the Arena, what kind of ahtletic competitions are actually going on in Tamriel?

umm...hunting? I also found a mention of footraces in the TIL.

I was looking for something with more....not-killing. Killing stuff is a bit played out.

I've always imangined the Arenas being places for plays to be acted out, as well as for various sporting activities (think Olympics), not just for mindless violence.

I don't remember reading anything about people in Tamriel, that is to say working-class people, doing things for entertainment.

The thing about competitive stuff in Tamriel is that it always seem reserved for the strongest. Some of the competition isn't even public like the arena.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Master_Zoaraym%27s_Tale

The reasons for a lack of general competition can be found in the structure of the society. In Vvardenfell, the population can be likened to that of the High Middle Ages in which cities were gaining prominence, but manors still existed in the countryside with peasants working the fields. Obviously the peasants had no conception of leisure time, so they can be ruled out. The city-goers though would likely be free tradesmen and would spend their new-found leisure time with more scholarly pursuits. Even in Vivec city, the majority of the inhabitants appear to be oathmen to great houses, in which Vivec was their temporary office. Their leisure time could probably be compared to wealthy Roman citizens, in the early Roman Empire, after the fall of the Republic, with their leisure time being devoted to more upscale things like drinking, parties, and theater.

It's interesting though that there aren't any feats of strength that the regular Joes of Tamriel don't partake in. If there were, I suppose they'd look less regular and therefore less peasant-like.

there are referances to 'sports' in general, but the only specifics I could find were Arena-fighting, hunting, and track races. For entertainment there are plays, dances, songs, bards, jugglers, and bascially most types of entertainers. not to forget prosttutes.

They go see a play like The Lusty Argonian Maid, as directed by Crassius Curio.

There's that theater troupe in Mournhold doing "Horror of Castle Xyr."

it isn't a spoiler if the game came out, say, over five years ago.

Given the surprisingly large amount of books that are plays, the ES law of extrapolation implies that Theatre is really big on Tamriel. Probably as an Altmer thing taken for the Empire's use and exported as Imperial culture.

Apart from that, I know it's not an athletic competition, but frequent and zany festivals seem to be key to High Rock and Sentinel culture (at least).

Let's see... someone already mentioned footraces... There are archery competitions... For some reason, I keep thinking that wrestling is mentioned somewhere? I'm probably completely wrong.
There really isn't much going on in Tamriel with regards to athletics. Quite like the real world, that way; "Sports" and the like were extremely rare until the 19th and 20th centuries, I believe.