This is not the first time and unfortunately will probably not be the last time this subject is written about. It has become far to common to see this at obstacle course races around the global. The problem, littering. The majority of the littering is from energy gel packaging’s being discarded on the ground. The bigger the race, the more garbage finds itself on course.
My aim is not to point fingers, but to bring this topic to the forefront and hopefully wakeup racers to issue and hopefully to a solution. For me I have found tucking used wrappers into my arm sleeve is the best way to keep my trash off the course. OCR companies and racers can do more to help prevent garbage being left on these beautiful woods we get to use for each race. For OCR companies, encourage racers to keep the courses clean; it would only help prevent the pollution of our woods. Place garbage bins throughout the course and make sure the MC's and pre-race motivators are educating and encouraging all racers to discard all trash in these bins and/or also hand any garbage to volunteers and staff. Race companies could even take it a step further and remove anyone caught on course littering or at the minimum require racers pick up their garbage and have to complete a penalty. A more extreme solution would be the OCR community create a Facebook page of shame and anyone that is caught littering and is posted on this Facebook page. I see this as the last resort and most extreme way to help prevent littering, unfortunately sometimes this is the only way to get a very select group of bad apples to play well with others. It’s sad but if the fear of being caught and pointed out on Facebook exists, it will prevent some from littering moving forward. The feasibility of this option is slim but it's time to think out of the box and get serious about littering.
Recently, I had a conversation with a few industry insiders. One industry professional had the opinion it was the sole responsibility of the OCR’s to provide ways for the course to be kept clean and if needed to be cleaned up, they (the OCR’s) handle it. They are of the opinion, racers pay good money to use the course and land, so it’s the OCR’s responsibility to leave the land the same way they were provided it. Is this an opinion shared by many?
We are blessed to be able to run these courses in the best places nature has to offer. A street cleaner is not an option for post-race cleaning. We all need to step up and take charge and keep our lands clean and pristine as we enjoy our sport.
What is your opinion?
Have you seen a lot of litter on a course?
Do you have a suggestion on how to clean up our courses?
What would your solution be for this problem?
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[…] on obstacle course race courses has been the subject of a lot of hand-wringing and consternation and whatnot lately. (And, of course, the inevitable […]
I believe that the simplest things to do are to give the obstacle volunteers a garbage bag so that when racers come by they can simply place it in the bag or hand off to the volunteer. As a secondary measure It would be an easy job for the OCR companies to simply add course pick up to their list of volunteer jobs. It would be a simple job to be paid a free race to walk the course to clean up trash.
The simplest thing is what I do and take my garbage out with me. If you brought itbin with you you carried it somehow. We usually have a bladder pack and we put our garbage back in it. We are all adults, no need to be slobs or expect someone else to ckean our mess.!!
Shouldn’t it be a joint effort? Runners need to realize you can’t just throw trash wherever you want just because it’s a race. And the race organizers need to make sure the land they use is cleaned up after a race. I hate having to throw cups on the ground at water stations,but few races place cans AFTER the water stations. And carrying a cup isn’t fun when you’re focused on running. If everyone pitches in it should not be a problem.
Agree 100% Vicki… if you carried it in with you, why can you carry it out with you? My wife and I stuff the empty packages back into our hydration packs or into the pockets of my shorts (which have a zipper)…sure, I forget about them sometimes, and only find them a couple races later when I’m stuffing more empty gel packs into the pocket…