50 Events, Over 710,000 Participants!

With the just announced certification of the 2012 Akron Marathon, presented by Time Warner Cable, the Council marks the milestone of having certified 50 different events! Over the course of those 50 events, and subsequent recertification of many of them, some 710,000 participants have been exposed to a wide variety of socially and environmentally responsible initiatives.

In addition to the Akron Marathon, other recently certified events include the 2012 Nike Women’s Marathon, held last October in San Francisco, and recertified for the second time following its original certification in 2008; the 2012 Turkey Chase, held on Thanksgiving Day in Bethesda, Maryland; and the 2013 Chevron Houston Marathon; which earned gold recertification just a year after originally earning silver certification from the Council.

Press releases for the 2013 Chevron Houston Marathon and 2012 Akron Marathon are available here and here respectively.

Tips for Hosting a Sustainable Sporting Event

Sports Destination Management, a trade publication for sport event managers and organizers, has just published a set of tips for hosting a sustainable sporting event. I was pleased to be asked to contribute to the piece, along with Ethan Nelson and Janis Ross. Ethan is the Waste Prevention and Green Building Manager for the City of Eugene, Oregon. Janis is the Executive Director of Eugene, Cascades & Coast Sports. They both played big roles in organizing and promoting the environmental and socially responsible initiatives that resulted in gold certification from the Council last summer for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.

I think you’ll find the tips we present to be useful and appropriate for sporting events of all sizes. Here’s the opening Q&A from the piece:

What is a Sustainable Sporting Event?

A source of community pride for fans and athletes alike!

They Be Green!

The April issue of Runner’s World just arrived in my mailbox, and I was thrilled to see the Editor’s Letter from David Willey. Specifically, I was thrilled to see the We Be Green box in the photo above.

Why? Because David took full advantage of his bully pulpit to tell readers about the good work his team did to earn silver certification from the Council at last October’s inaugural Runner’s World Half Marathon and Festival. And, he wasn’t shy about stating his ambitions for a gold certified event in 2013!

I fully realize that David is in a unique position to broadly promote the fact that his event earned silver certification, but I’ve got to wonder why other certified event organizers don’t make a big deal out of telling folks about the good work they’re doing?

Just saying: Every one of the 50 event organizers who have earned one or more certifications from the Council should be as proud as David is about their respective accomplishments.

Runner’s World Half Marathon and Running Festival earns Silver Certification

We are proud to receive Silver Certification in our inaugural year of the Runner’s World Half Marathon and Running Festival. It’s important to reduce the environmental impact of road races, bringing runners together to celebrate our sport in a way that is as sustainable as possible. Our staff and our partners hope to become even greener at the next Runner’s World Half in October.

So said David Willey, SVP/Editor-in-Chief of Runner’s World, published by Rodale Inc.

To be sure, David and the Runner’s World team have a lot to be proud of. They are just the second first-time event to earn certification from the Council. As I said in the press release:

Organizing a first-time running festival, including 5K, 10K, half marathon and kid’s races is a huge challenge in itself. To add the significant challenge of producing the events in a socially and responsible manner, and documenting the effort is truly remarkable.

A complete copy of the press release is available for download in PDF format here.

Greenline Half Marathon Earns Silver Certification

As managers of the largest urban park in the country, sustainability is at the core of everything we do. This was an incredible opportunity for Shelby Farms Park Conservancy to implement international best practices, to set new and innovative standards for future events and to serve as sustainability leaders in our community.

So says Laura Adams, Executive Director of Shelby Farms Park Conservancy (SFPC) in Memphis, Tennessee.

The result: Nearly 95% of post-race survey respondents said they noticed event organizer’s sustainability initiatives. SFPC worked diligently to do more than implement the practices – they aimed to share their efforts and to help the public understand the importance of making sustainable choices.

Sustainability leaders in the Memphis community, indeed!

A PDF copy of the complete press release is available here. Also, here’s a link to a recent article on RunnersWorld.com about the race and its sustainability efforts.