Yesterday, Sunday 26th April, 36,000 people pounded the streets of London to take part in one of the world’s best marathons, what many people call the ‘People’s Marathon’. I’ve completed three marathons, two of which were the London Marathon and there is something very special about this one. Whilst the training is tough going, particularly through the winter months, the build up in the week before the London Marathon is something special. The Runnersworld UK forum is alive with people comparing their training, asking last minute advice, how should they get there, how much should they drink on the way round, how many loos are available? On the day itself, the atmosphere at the start in Blackheath is electric and the support along every inch of the way is phenomenal.
I wasn’t running this year but was supposed to be supporting my lovely boyfriend who has trained so hard and so well, but cruelly was not allowed the final glory of running a personal best due to a terrible back injury on Friday morning. Life is very unfair sometimes.
We both ran it last year though and one of my lasting memories is catching up the Masai Warriors at mile 13. They were dressed in their finest warrior outfits, complete with shoes made out of old tyres and 6ft spears. They were taking part to raise awarness for the lack of water in their country. I wondered what on earth they made of the many water stations along the route, where thousands of runners grab a bottle, take a few swigs and then discard half a bottle of water to the side of the road. They must surely have felt some disgust or at least disbelief at what they were seeing. We really do take fresh water for completed granted.
One of the hazards of running is dodging all these discarded plastic Vittel water bottles and Lucozade sport bottles. There must be well over 250,000 bottles along the route. But fear not, those lovely people at London Marathon ensure that recycling is a priority. Recycling is implemented all along the route and London Marathon works with all six London boroughs that the route winds through to ensure waste is collected and recyled. All the Lucozade now comes in new packacing, fully recyclable 300ml PET bottles and all the waste in the finish area is taken to the Materials Recovery Facility where recyclable materials are sorted and sent for recycling. I also saw on the TV yesterday a report about using some of the plastic bottles to make beautiful 3d artwork flowers.
The London Marathon Expo, held in the 4 days before the race itself, is held at London Excel, a fully sustainable building with its own Materials Recovery Facility and, believe it or not, its own wormery holding 250,000 to 300,000 worms. This wormery is the largest UK onsite wormery where worms feast on the food waste and compostable packaging waste from Excel.
If you were watching the race, you will have noticed metres and metres of sponsors advertising, in fact 23 kilometres in total. After the race, this signage is sent for recycling and used in all manner of arts and craft activities throughout the London boroughs.
The large lorries from TNT that take the runners’ bags from start to finish are part of the largest fleet of zero emission trucks in the world.
London Marathon have also cut down almost completley on runners communication by paper. Entry is now online and correspondence and news sent to runners up to the race itself is all via email.
There are many other ways that London Marathon has turned green and it’s great to see that much thought has been put into making such a huge event as green as possible.
Oh, and anyone reading this who thinks “I could never do a marathon”, you can! If I can do it, then you certainly can. I couldn’t run 100m without gasping for breath when I started running and then a year later I finished the London Marathon in just over 5 hours! Come on, get your kit on and start running, it’s good for you.
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