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.

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.

As a follow-up to the one question posed below about what to do with a ton of cups, I thought I would share a list of 20 questions event organizers should ask themselves as they begin to develop goals, objectives and plans for a greener running event. Before I do, however, I should point out that these questions were originally written for the second edition of Road Race Management’s Guide To Greener Running Events, which you can now order directly from RRM’s Web site.

This new booklet provides more than just an inventory of the green initiatives running events are implementing, and I hope it demystifies a lot of things event directors could and should consider doing. It also explores opportunities for “green” certification, presents a summary of hundreds of race directors’ thoughts and opinions about the environmental impact of their events and offers far more “how-to” guidance and narrative than the sold-out first edition.

The booklet is being sold for $55, including shipping and handling. The price for Road Race Management Members is only $50.

OK, here are 20 questions I think you should consider carefully as you begin to plan your road race:

Pre-race:

• What are your goals and objectives for going green?
• Who is going to manage the greening of your event?
• How much are specific green objectives going to cost, and how are you going to pay for them? 
• Who among your sponsors, vendors and civic partners will support your efforts? 
• What is the strategy for building awareness for your green initiatives? 
• What printing, if any, is absolutely necessary? Are there environmentally friendly printing options available to you for both paper and signage/banner needs? 
• How can you minimize shipping distances and impacts? 
• What alternatives to the ubiquitous goodie bag are available to you (consider both the bag itself and its contents)?
• What other traditional features of your event can be made more green (pasta feed, expo, t-shirts, race merchandise, etc.)? (more…)

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?