More and more races are asking participants what they think of the event’s efforts to green things up, typically as part of a post-event survey. But I can’t recall having a client ask runners about their green initiatives pre-race, specifically as part of the registration process.

In the there’s-a-first-time-for-everything category, the Chevron Houston Marathon folks are doing just that. And the response rate is not only high, but the rate of positive responses is very encouraging:

• When asked “are you aware of the Houston Marathon Committee’s efforts to go green,” 53% of registrants (8,188 runners) answered yes.
• When asked “is participating in a certified green event important to you,” 51% of runners (7,942 runners) answered yes.

In regards to the second bullet, Houston runners should be pleased: the Houston Marathon Committee intends to pursue certification from the Council for Responsible Sport next January.

By the way, Houston’s numbers compare very favorably with recent post-race survey results from the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run:

• 63% of respondents said they were aware of Cherry Blossom’s application for CRS Certification, and
• 82% of respondents said that green certification was important to them.

Other tidbits from the Cherry Blossom survey included:

• 79% of respondents said there were “concerned” to “extremely concerned” about the environmental impact of running events, and
• 81% preferred receiving an iGiftBag Virtual Goodie Bag over a conventional goodie bag.

If you’ve got interesting survey results to share on the subject of greening races, please do so via the comments box.

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about effective signage.

As I was working on a blog post for the Council for Responsible Sport the other day, announcing newly certified races, I received some great photos from my friend April at the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle. Their signs clearly meet the objectives for effective signage outlined in my previous post, and are worthy of a photo essay:

Shamrock Shuffle Green Team Ready to Recycle and Compost

Clearly Marked Bike Valet Parking at Shamrock Shuffle

Signage Pointing the Way to Bike Valet Parking at Shamrock Shuffle

By the way, Congratulations to April and her Green Team for earning Silver Certification from the Council for Responsible Sport!

One of our clients, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run, is taking a multi-faceted approach to reducing its many transportation impacts. Even though their circumstances are unique, I think this a good case study in creating problem solving.

To begin with, the event takes place in the heart of Washington DC, with the start/finish area near the Washington Monument — in the midst of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, no less. Needless to say, parking is an issue. So, long before their “carbon footprint” became a topic of conversation, race organizers forged a relationship with Metro to promote subway ridership to and from the race.

With a 7:30 am race start, however, there was a big challenge to overcome: Metro stations typically open at 7 am on Sunday mornings. Undaunted, race organizers struck a deal with Metro to have the stations open at 5 am on race day, and the program has taken off. Last year 13,900 runners, spectators and volunteers rode Metro to the event!

Of course, Metro isn’t a convenient option for everyone, so race organizers offer the ability to purchase carbon offsets from NativeEnergy as part of the online race registration process. For $3.60, the average price of a Metro round-trip fare, runners could contribute to the Northeast Farms Separation project, which removes volatile solids from dairy farm manure, thus preventing anaerobic decomposition that would normally produce methane. This year 1177 runners contributed a total of $4237.20 to the cause, which will offset 303 short tons of carbon emissions. (As a point of reference, last year 1090 race participants purchased NativeEnergy co2 offsets that helped build the Greensburg Wind Farm in Greensburg, Kansas, which prevented over 260 short tons of carbon emissions.)

And, for those lucky enough to be able to ride their bikes to the race, Cherry Blossom organizers have worked with the National Park Service to provide a bike parking lot at 14th and Independence Avenue SW.

Finally, race organizers are working with EnviroRide to source buses that use alternative fuel for elite athlete transportation to/from the race as well as for picking up stragglers at the end of the race. In addition, battery-powered golf carts will be used throughout the start/finish area to haul trash, recycling and compostables to a central collection area.

Lots of challenges, lots of good choices made to reduce Cherry Blossom’s various transportation impacts. Kudos to the race organizers!

By the way, each of the above mentioned tactics contribute to what is hoped to be a successful application for certification from the Council for Responsible Sport — the only credible, third-party verified certification system for sports events. Stay tuned for more news about Cherry Blossom’s application after the race this weekend — once the documentation that backs up their many initiatives becomes available.

Two of the races we’ve worked on recently had noteworthy accomplishments:

First off, the Lilac Bloomsday Run earned certification from the Council for Responsible Sport (CRS). Bloomsday is the largest event to earn certification from CRS.

CRS Certification lists a total of 41 possible credits in six areas representing waste, climate, equipment & materials, community & outreach, health promotion, and innovation. Bloomsday was able to earn 23 credits among the six categories. Two notable credits earned by Bloomsday include achieving a 10% reduction in waste from its 2009 event and the event’s STA’s “Bloomsday Express” service, which shuttled over 20% of Bloomsday participants to and from downtown Spokane. Ridership in the shuttle service was up 13.9% in 2010. Credit was also given for collaboration between Bloomsday, Hoopfest and the City of Spokane in increasing public awareness of recycling by creating an inventory of Clearstream containers that will be available for public events.

“This certification is a testament to the people of Spokane,” said Lilac Bloomsday Association President Carol Hunter. “Bloomsday has been successful over the years only because thousands of individuals have come together for a common goal. The effort resulting in this certification is no different as it was achieved through the work of committed organizations and volunteers. We have every confidence that Spokane and all Bloomsday participants will continue to support these environmental initiatives in Bloomsdays to come.”

Secondly, recycling and composting efforts at the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon  produced remarkable results: the total weight of trash sent to the landfill was just 40 pounds (for a race of 1,600 participants)! The recovery rate was 96.3%, with recycled glass weighing 400 pounds, mixed recycling weighing 140 pounds and composting weighing 500 pounds.

We look forward to working with both events again in the future.

The folks at Conley Sports–our clients in Austin, Texas–are truly committed to doing their best to stage a sustainable event.

Recognized by Runner’s World Magazine as the Greenest Race in North America in 2008, the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon issued a press release today detailing efforts to raise the bar and make the 2009 event even more environmentally friendly.

It all starts with a dedicated Green Team and a focus on eliminating unnecessary waste and pollution at every turn:

Major reductions will come from less plastic waste at water stops, fewer supply vehicles, eliminating paper inserts in the runners’ goodie bags, and distributing only one plastic bag to runners throughout race weekend (with instructions for ways to reuse it after the race).

A key component of Austin’s efforts this year goes beyond just being green: race organizers are seeking third-party certification of their efforts from the Council for Responsible Sport. ReSport Certification is making its public debut this year, after conducting a pilot program in 2008. Participation from events like the Austin Marathon will surely help raise this budding non-profit’s profile in the running world.

Who knows, the next time Runner’s World ranks green races, maybe they’ll base those rankings on points earned in the ReSport Certification process? Hope so.

For a full accounting of Austin’s green initiatives, please download the green-team-release.pdf.

As mentioned in the previous post, the November issue of Runner’s World listed the 10 Greenest Races in the U.S. No doubt every race on the list deserved recognition for the good work they are doing, but there are a lot of other races across the country–and around the world–that are also doing their part to minimize their environmental impact. So how are we to know which races are truly the greenest?

One thing is for sure: objective measures are needed if the running media is going to be promoting one race as being greener than another.

I’m a big fan of the Council for Responsible Sport and their ReSport Certification program for participant sporting events. Their five metrics and the standards they are developing would be a much better way to figure out which races are the greenest than a simple review of what the races have to say for themselves in press releases.

Here’s hoping that next year Runner’s World will base their top-10 on the number of points participating races earn in the ReSport certification process.

In the preceding post, I mentioned that there’s a movement afoot to reduce the impact of running events, triathlons, bike races and the like. One of the driving forces behind this nascent movement is the Council for Responsible Sport.

Jeff Henderson and Jonathan Eng launched the Council in September 2007 with the thought that the broader world of sport could do with a little cleaning. To that end, they’ve developed a draft set of standards for green event certification which can be viewed here. The key word in the previous sentence is the word DRAFT. Jeff and Jonathan are sincere in wanting these standards to be objective, transparent and inclusive and, thus, are encouraging folks to comment on the draft standards using this form.

I’ve already let them know how I think the standards should be tweaked. Why don’t you take a few minutes to do so as well?