“Cups on the road”
When I am asked what I do for work, I tell them that I work at the intersection of sustainability and running.
The response is almost always, “oh, like cups on the road”.
For runners, seeing hundreds...even millions, of cups crushed underfoot is one of the rare times we’re forced to confront our own consumerism directly.
For race organizers, there is a weight that sits on their shoulders.
They know that their event has to prioritize safety, performance, the runners having a good day, over the health of our planet.
But they see the impact their event has, and know they want to do better. Know that they want to leave a legacy of something positive in this world, and watching huge volumes of waste leave their race area is not necessarily in alignment with that.
Measuring your environmental impact is no easy task, and is one of the biggest barriers for many race directors to begin their environmental journey.
It is one of the reasons we created Racing For Sustainability, to give race organizers a place to start, the resources to make it easy, the guides to pass along to volunteers.
Taking steps toward sustainability can feel indulgent, it’s easy to postpone (I get it!), but it’s actually future-proofing your event to grow, evolve, and improve year upon year. We all know there are events that have appeared on the scene like a viral video flourishing, only to fizzle away soon after.
I know race organizers want to create something that lasts, and considering sustainability is not only going to lift the guilt that sits on your heart, but matters more than you think.
With races continuing to see a running boom, the World Abbott Marathon Majors continuing to push the boundary of what is possible for a max number of runners.
Many other races selling out in record time, runners are selecting events where people they admire go and races that align with their love for community.
Gen-z participation has been discussed at length, with the 2025 Running USA Global Runner Survey confirming what other, more general research has concluded, that Gen Z runners are more likely to seek out and/or choose to enter events that support social justice initiatives, which fall under the larger umbrella of sustainability.
If your community feels welcomed, seen, and respected, your race is more sustainable for the long term.
Sustainability is not just about environmental choices. If you lose community support, your race could quickly become an event of the past. Event reputation matters to runners, especially Gen Z.
So what can be done to future proof your event?
You don’t need to do all of these, but selecting one of these intentional, conscious sustainable actions to start with can be a talking point for runners to share about your event, and will stand out enough to have your runners want to come back over and over:
Easy places to start, but simply doing one of these, then talking about it through your website or on your social media, can have a big impact.
Every race tells a story. Of effort, community, and care. The question is, what story will your event leave behind?