Boston Marathon Organizers Aim To Be Environmentally Friendly
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Organizers Trying To Reduce
Carbon Footprint Of Marathon |
Organizers of today's Boston Marathon for the first time are taking "significant steps to cut the race's carbon footprint, recycling more of the thousands of pounds of waste created and encouraging" participants to make "one of the nation's least environmentally friendly road races more green," according to David Abel of the BOSTON GLOBE. Boston Athletic Association (BAA) Exec Dir Guy Morse, whose organization operates the marathon, said, "This is a huge step forward for us. We felt it's an obligation of any major event to do as much as it can to offset its effect on the environment -- and not just to pay lip service." For today's race, BAA will buy 22,440 pounds of carbon emission credits to offset pollutants from buses used to transport runners, and also are "replacing the pace-setting motorcycles that escort the elite runners with new electric scooters." BAA also will employ Department of Correction inmates to collect "discarded cups, bottles, and blankets and ensure that all recyclables make it into 600 barrels distributed along the course." However, the Boston Marathon still is "behind many other marathons" around America. Oregon-based Council for Responsible Sport Exec Dir Jeff Henderson: "Given that it's a point-to-point race and the numbers of people involved who come from far away, I think it's fair to say Boston has one of the largest carbon footprints in the country." But organizers contend that this year's race "marks the beginning of a long-term effort to take more aggressive efforts to balance environmental concerns with producing a well-managed marathon." Morse: "This is our first step, and it's part of a learning curve. We will improve" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/19).
RUNNING INTO THE FUTURE: In Nashville, Bryan Mullen notes marathons are "going high-tech in terms of socializing and spreading information." A Facebook page for the city's Country Music Marathon, to be held Saturday, has attracted more than 5,500 fans "despite light promotion," and the race also has "joined the Twitter movement." Elite Racing VP/Digital Media Dan Vaughn, whose company manages the race, is preparing a Tweetup for marathon fans in Nashville this week (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 4/20).
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