Organisers of the Tenner 10k Run & Fun 5k Run/Walk, which takes place this Saturday (11AM, 13 April 2019), have taken on a reuse challenge and committed to a zero waste run!

The decision to have a zero waste race follows the lead of last year’s successful Urban Run at St Michael's Rowing Club in Limerick, and follows on from Ennis Track Club's 10k last month when compostable cups were used in place of single-use plastic bottles. 

Runners are generally very conscious of the environment and none of them want to add to the unsightly mess of plastic bottles littering our roadsides and hedges. Most of the bottles used in road-race water stations only have a couple of sips taken out of them, and even if the bottles are gathered for recycling, its an unnecessary volume of waste generated. 

How will we do it?

- The 5km race will have no water station on the route, with a station just at the finish line

- The 10km race will have one watering station at the half-way point

- These water stations will have #RunReuseRefill glasses which will be filled by volunteers. Another team of volunteers will be further down from the water station with large ‘skip’ bags and they will encourage runners to toss the reusable glasses in the bag

- The glasses will all be gathered and returned to the clubhouse to be washed, dried and returned to SMRC to be reused again the next time they are needed

- As some runners looking for fast times may not wish to pause to sip from a cup, any 10km contenders who wish to use their own reusable bottle can do so and will be facilitated at a designated table at the water-station - their personal bottle will be taken from them at the start, brought out to the half-way point and returned to them at the finish-line.

Limerick City and County Council has invested in these #RunReuseRefill cups and they are made available to other volunteer groups for similar races. Clare County Council in partnership with Ennis Tidy Towns have recently ordered their own cups, and these will be available to organisers of events around the county from later this year. In the meantime, it's full steam ahead in Sixmilebridge for Saturday and the first zero-waste race in Clare.

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