Green Runners Inspire Sustainable Change in Sport

Quick Smiles:

• The Green Runners encourage eco-friendly choices in the running community.
• Members focus on reducing waste and promoting greener events.
• Initiatives include gear repair kits and advocating for sustainable races.

Running may look like the ultimate eco-friendly sport, but the demands of gear, travel, and race promotions can add up quickly. The Green Runners, a grassroots group led by passionate athletes, are working to transform the running scene by promoting sustainability at every stride.

This movement started with fifty runners on WhatsApp and has now connected more than 3,000 members aiming to reduce the sport’s carbon footprint. Guided by four ‘green pillars’, they focus on travel, kit choices, food, and speaking out for change across the industry.

“You don’t have to be vegan, you don’t have to give up flying altogether or have a stupid haircut like me,” jokes TGR co-founder and professional ultra runner Damian Hall. “We’re just meeting people where they are and letting them make their own changes. People really seem to want it.”

Damian Hall’s research revealed sobering facts, including the massive impact of shoe waste and plastic use at major events like marathons. The group seeks creative answers, such as green travel, buying less, and making pre-loved gear last.

Among their successes, TGR helped nudge major races to swap bottled water for refill stations and called out brands on unsustainable sponsorships. These wins come thanks to collaborative activism, including eye-catching stunts like a six-foot water bottle costume at the Brighton 10K.

“Next year, when the Brighton Marathon comes to town, the organisers will be providing water refills instead of bottles,” Evans says.

Members like Darren Evans also pioneer clever solutions such as Pair Ups, a kit for extending the life of trainers and repairing sports gear. The Green Runners encourage every athlete to join their journey and see progress, not perfection, as the path toward a truly green sport.

“It was amazing to be embraced in that way,” Hall says. “It just shows that people really do care about climate breakdown, and about what they can do to address it. No one’s perfect, we’re always going to have some negative impact. But this is about progress over perfection. We want to run without the footprint, and we need all runners to become Green Runners to do it.”

Let’s cheer for these eco-minded athletes as they spark a wave of positive change—one step, one race, one repaired trainer at a time!

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