One of the great things about the recent How Green is Your Event workshop was the opportunity it provided for environmentally consciuous race directors to get to know each other and begin to build community. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard from a number of participants–all of them eager to tap into the collective knowledge and creativity of the group.

Peggy Rogers, Community Outreach Director for the ING Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon, actually sent along a specific query:

Does anyone know a provider of functionality to enable race participants to view and print their own finisher certificate from the event’s website? As a green advocate, and to reduce costs, our race would like to provide online finisher certificates rather than print and mail certificates, since not all participants are interested in receiving finisher certificates.

As a runner, I have used this functionality but I don’t remember at which marathon, perhaps the 2006 New Las Vegas Marathon.

I’d like to hear from anyone whose race has provided online finisher certificates and how you performed this function.

Thanks for any information or leads that you can provide.

Not only is this a great idea, but it’s a perfect example of how like-minded folks can help each other achieve a common goal of more environmentally responsible event production. It is also the perfect example of how Lee and I hope folks will use this Web site.

If anyone has a lead for Peggy, please use the comments feature below this post to respond.

Lee and I strive to provide valuable counsel to participant sporting events that are trying to clean up their act. But we’re far from being the only experts in this field. So when we discover useful resource materials, we’re pleased to share them with our clients and visitors to this Web site.

In 2002, Robin Hawley, an old friend and former colleague of Lee’s developed a recycling guide for Portland, Oregon’s Race For The Cure. Robin has worked extensively in the recycling field since receiving her Masters in Public Administration from Portland State University in 1998. She worked on the commercial recycling program for the Office of Sustainable Development for the City of Portland from 2000 until 2003, then joined the regional government, Metro, and took over responsibility for improving business recycling in the Portland region from 2003 to 2005. During that time she was also the lead individual responsible for event day recycling for the Susan G. Komen Foundation Race For The Cure, in Portland, Oregon. This event, with over 42,000 participants, achieved notable recovery while Robin was overseeing the recycling operations, recovering 72% of their waste while only landfilling 28%! Ms. Hawley is currently employed by Ecos Consulting, running the Program Management Office.

Thanks to Robin, here’s the link to a PDF that’s chock full of tips and stats for those of you who are trying to set up or improve your event’s waste management systems: race-for-the-cure-recycling-guide.pdf