2011 Half Moon Bay International Marathon Achieves ReSport Gold Certification

I’ve been looking forward to using this photo on our Website for a long time! It’s a picture of Jennifer Dill, Chief Green Officer of the Half Moon Bay International Marathon (HMBIM), doing what she and her many counterparts around the world do best — whatever it takes to make their event more sustainable. In Jennifer’s case, she’s pictured hauling one of a very few bags of trash generated by HMBIM off to the dumpster.

Indeed, HMBIM was able to divert 87.5% of their waste from the landfill. Among their many other accomplishments, two stand out: carbon offsets were purchased to mitigate the 40 tons of CO2 emissions created by participants traveling to Half Moon Bay to compete, and efforts to reduce the number of single-driver vehicles resulted in 34% of runners carpooling, and 9% walking or riding their bikes to the event.

And event organizers paid just as much attention to the community/social side of the ledger. With the majority of the race being run on Coastside trails, supporting the grassroots efforts of the Coastside Bicycle Coalition made perfect sense. So, too, did event organizers’ work with the Sierra Club to involve youth from San Jose’s Inner City Outings program.

All in all, the sustainability efforts of Half Moon Bay International Marathon organizers add up to one very well done event. Kudos to everyone involved with this effort!

A PDF of the complete press release is available here.

ReSport Certification named to Beyond Sport Awards Sport for the Environment shortlist

It’s only fitting to use the photo above to express how happy and honored we are to have received notification from Beyond Sport that our ReSport Certification program has made their shortlist for their Sport for the Environment 2012 Awards. You see, the Beyond Sport Summit will take place in London, July 23-25, and will recognize, in part the global reach of ReSport Certification. The photo above was taken at the 2009 EDF Energy Race Against Climate Change in the UK, the first international event to earn ReSport Certification – Gold ReSport Certification, in fact, and event organizers were recently awarded Evergreen ReSport Certification for their 2010 efforts.

As I said in the press release announcing our being on the shortlist:

“We couldn’t be more pleased or honored.During the application process, I reviewed all 19 of the nominees for Beyond Sport’s Sport for the Environment Award, and was humbled by the great work being done in countries big and small, all over the world. To be named to the shortlist for this award is beyond my wildest dreams.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t add this thought: Getting on the shortlist for the Beyond Sport Environmental Award is definitely the result of a lot of hard work, including the hard work of every event that has become ReSport Certified. Thanks to everyone who did the heavy lifting that helped us earn this recognition!

A complete copy of the press release is available here.

Portland Timbers Community Fund Awards $3000 Grant For Online Certification Tool Upgrade

Great news: today the Portland Timbers Community Fund announced the list of nine recipients for its Spring grant cycle and the Council for Responsible Sport was among them!

Here’s the summary from the grant application of how we’ll use the funds:

Our online ReSport Certification tool is an incredibly important part of our certification program. It creates an audit trail and reduces the amount of time that staff and event organizers must spend uploading documentation. It is also a repository of best practices and past activities that can serve as a roadmap for new race staff, and help to set new goals for continuous improvement. Funding from the Timbers Community Fund will be used to create a positive, inspiring user experience by updating the graphics, content and the way events navigate through the system. The direct beneficiaries of the project are race directors, event planners and race host communities.”

As I said in my “like” post of the Portland Timbers Facebook page:

Thanks so much Timbers! The Council for Responsible Sport will make you proud of you investment in our work to make a sustainable difference in sport.

Here’s a link to the Timbers announcement.

2011 Williams Route 66 Marathon Achieves ReSport Certification

Race organizers of the WIlliams Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have a lot to be proud of, starting with the fact that they produced a zero-waste event! But it’s on the social side of the ledger where their commitment to the community, particularly to at-risk youth in Tulsa really stands out.

“Most events approach ReSport Certification from the environmental side of the ledger,” said Council for Responsible Sport Executive Director Keith Peters in the press release announcing the certification. “The folks in Tulsa did a remarkable job with their green initiatives, staging a zero-waste event, but really broke new ground with some of their socially oriented initiatives.”

Peters added: “Two programs in particular focused on at-risk youth in their community. Youth Services of Tulsa, an agency that serves homeless youth, stuffed race packets, which were actually reusable cloth bags, and earned $3,000 for their efforts. And, presenting sponsor Blue Cross Blue Shield sponsored 300 participants in the YMCA’s Kids Training Program, even paying the 5K entry fee for those kids who completed the training program.”

A full copy of the press release can be downloaded here.

ReSport Certification Part Of Chicago Park District’s Newly Updated Green Event Guidelines For 2012 Permit Applicants

Chicago Park District officials recently announced a few updates to their Green Event Guidelines for 2012. While park permit applicants will not be required to become Certified Green Events, they are encouraged to do so. And, for large athletic events seeking Certified Green Event recognition from the Chicago Park District, third-party certification from the nonprofit Council for Responsible Sport (CRS) will be required.

I applaud the Chicago Park District for continuing to evolve their Certified Green Event program. We are honored to have the Council’s ReSport Certification standards included in the Park District’s Green Event Guidelines for 2012. The Bank of America Chicago Marathon and Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle have both achieved ReSport Certification in recent years, and I look forward to other large athletic events in Chicago joining the Marathon and Shamrock Shuffle on the growing list of sporting events pursuing green event certification.

The significance of the step the Chicago Park District has taken should not be underestimated. To my knowledge, Chicago is the first municipality in the United States to incorporate a third-party certification standard into its event permitting process. Of course, I’m hopeful that other municipalities will follow Chicago’s lead. — Keith Peters, CRS Executive Director

A complete copy of the press release can be downloaded here.