New Racers for the Environment Program

Rob / 23.02.2003

The first public announcement to come out of the USARA summit at the IATOS show at Chicago is the formation of ARFE – Adventure Racers for the Environment.

Details are still a bit thin, but there is a basic web site up and it looks like it’s a scheme where both clubs and individual racers can put in hours of work on environmental programs to earn points and win prizes supplied by sponsoring companies, Buff, Leki and Camelbak.

The introduction says: “The point isn\'t just stuff like garbage pick-up during races, although that\'s important. It\'s also not what we do during races. It\'s what we can do outside of races to help conserve the world\'s greatest playground: the outdoors.”

The scheme has USARA backing (it’s limited to the US) and a first glance it looks a bit heavy on administration with verification of points, bonuses and ‘passports’ to fill in. Working to improve the outdoor environment is an aim few would disagree with, and they are suggesting a wide range of projects and groups to work with, but isn’t it jumping ahead a bit and taking the focus away from minimising the environmental impact of AR itself.

There ARE still issues like garbage being dropped during races and finding ways to race which have minimal impact. Course design is critical here, as is encouraging all races to have an environmental policy and stringent penalties for infringements, which are enforced. The USARA sanction requirements at the moment appear to be focused almost entirely on safety with one line under ‘Post Race’ requiring “Clean up race site, leave no trace of your event.”

Maybe it’s not such a good idea to take the focus of racing community and the efforts of concerned racers away from dealing with environmental issues within the sport?

You can see the new ARFE site here.