The Green Trail Concept stand at the Ultra Pirineu has allowed great interactions with runners and trail running audience
This past 29th and 30th of September, the Green Trail Concept team attended the Salomon Ultra Pirineu, motivating runners and audiences to preserve nature and participate in the socioeconomic development of the area, as well as asking them to provide their point of view in the organization of sustainable trail running events.
Green Trail Concept, with the presence of Kilian Jornet Foundation and Associació Ecoserveis, was raising awareness on sustainability practices at a stand in Bagà , Catalonia, the location where the Salomon Ultra Pirineu took place. The goal was to take the opportunity provided by such a relevant trail running race to collect and analyze data on sustainability among the trail running community, and then use the data to support the building of a sustainable certification scheme for trail running events. The Green Trail Concept certification scheme will allow organizers to monitor the performance of their races in terms of environmental protection and socioeconomical development. The scheme will guide them and provide support for improving those aspects that are underperforming in any of the three pillars of sustainability: environment, social and economics.
During our stay at the Salomon Ultra Pirineu, we conducted a workshop that engaged runners and audiences by asking them about what sustainability challenges and opportunities they saw in trail running. More than 50 people interacted with us at the stand and provided detailed feedback, writing down their answers on carboard with colour markers. Litter, fauna protection, gender inequalities and social inclusion are some of the main concerns expressed by the people who came to speak to us at the stand. These messages will be then used to create and improve the future Green Trail Concept certification tool.
As part of the raising awareness campaign on good practices, at the stand we had the opportunity to display and promote local gastronomic products from the Pyrenees area, among them marmalade from Avinyonet. Buying local products, supporting local businesses and choosing sustainable tourism options are some of the good practices that we have been promoting to reach economic sustainable goals in trail running.
We were happy to have on display at the stand a signed t-shirt by the word trail running champion Kilian Jornet. The t-shirt was the prize of a raffle organized by Green Trail Concept and, with more than 160 registered participants, it allowed us also to get information about sustainability from runners and trail running audience through a questionnaire.
All the activities performed at the stand allowed for a strong engagement with runners and trail running audiences that allowed for the collection of valuable information that will greatly help Green Trail Concept to develop its certification tool. We would like to thank all the people who came to visit us and interacted with us at the Salomon Ultra Pirineu and all the people who participated in the raffle and filled out the sustainability questionnaire! Now, we are preparing for the next event in April 2024: see you at the Österlen Spring Trail in Sweden!
