LAMM Offsets Climate Costs

Rob Howard / 05.03.2007

Entry for the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon is now open for this year and the online entry system has some interesting innovations attached to it, one of which addresses the environmental cost of travelling to the event. A scheme which is probably the first of its kind for a sporting event in the UK.

Aiming to stimulate debate and make those taking part aware of the environmental impact caused by their journey the idea is to use information provided by competitors to calculate the approximate amount of carbon dioxide generated by their participation.

There is also an opportunity do something positive about it by making a voluntary contribution with your entry fee, which will be donated to one or more appropriate projects to ensure that the amount of CO2 generated when travelling to and from the LAMM is no longer generated elsewhere. It’s like a voluntary ‘Climate Tax’, something we may all have to get used to, and the race is matching the donations made.

They are investigating the best schemes to make the donation to and particularly like projects such as "Efficient Cooking Stoves". They are suggesting competitors look at www.climatecare.org and the total is displayed on the team list. It is already close to £500, so the idea has had a good initial response.

Another innovation is to ask about the competitor’s memberships of land owning organisations, which the race often works with, such as The National Trust for Scotland, John Muir Trust and RSPB. While the race has never been refused access to a privately owned estate this information might help negotiations in future.