Mother Nature picked the perfect time to stick a windy, freezing day in the middle of terrific early spring weather. “Perfect” for laughing her butt off. Certainly the HPR crew was freezing its butts off! But we persevered and pulled off two successful Zero Waste efforts, at St. Patrick’s day themed races: Shamrocks & Shenanigans in Ann Arbor, and Corktown Races in Detroit. All the icy details and stats below.
First up, here’s Shamrocks & Shenanigans Zero Waste captain Rachael reporting:
Just when we thought the weather was getting nice, Mother Nature threw us a curveball and froze almost all the local leprechauns. The ones who didn’t freeze were at RF’s Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5k in downtown Ann Arbor hosted by Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub. These racers were running for Save A Heart, an organization that raises money for the Michigan Congenital Heart Center at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
Temperatures were around 30℉ with such high winds that our new intern Ella Hook lost her coffee and our Zero Waste Station sign thought that it too could run a race, just in the wrong direction. We had two wonderful volunteers as well, Jessica and Sanjidah, who froze their toes to make a great race zero waste!
Due to how cold it was, there was not much waste. Only 31.5 lbs. total, a record low for me! The waste was mainly banana peels, various coffee cups, water bottles, and lots of ice cream containers, an interesting choice given how cold it was. The only landfill (tape, ice cream lids) fit in a baggie!
Overall, it was a wonderfully lucky race with people able to get some delicious food at Conor O’Neill’s and being able to run for such an amazing cause!
Now over to Jeff for the Corktown Races report.
Hey, I’m finally warm enough to type this! Not surprisingly, Roosevelt Park in downtown Detroit was at least equally cold and windy as Ann Arbor last Sunday. But over two thousand kids and adults showed up to run the mile and 5K. And the beer and parade afterward meant the party kept going into the afternoon.
Two things helped us out immensely. One was an onsite recycling dumpster, which we filled nearly to the top with cardboard and beer cups. The other was a great team of four HPR staff and four volunteers, who stuck it out and had everything under control during the races and at takedown.
From left: staffers Emma and Debbie, and new intern Liz. Baptism by ice!
The short-lived station in the open by the coffee truck. (Not short enough for our volunteers there.)
Beer area station. You can see the wind in action. How about the team’s clever way to keep the tablecloth on?
Our main station was between the water and food tents, thankfully out of the wind. Still, we had one gust sweep our tables clear of boxes, and our boxes covering park trash cans were told, “Fly! Be free!” by the wind several times. A second station near the Bearclaw coffee truck was shut down early due to sparse traffic and the aforementioned wind. One more station in the beer area collected cups and kept the food waste separate. All went well there, with just one “oops – rogue trash can” found near the end, which our team there quickly sorted out. Many thanks!
Main sources of waste were banana peels, cardboard, and beer cups, with honorable mention to the number of hand warmers collected, which will be recycled through TerraCycle. Total waste was down somewhat from last year, but so was landfill, improving our diversion rate to over 99 percent.
The leprechauns must’ve gone for a beer now and then, because we had some hiccups. The propane tank serving our heater got used up. No problem, I brought a backup, which failed, too. (Next time, bring a full one, Jeff!) And on the way to pick up the beer tent, I passed a park trash can filled with banana peels and cups. How did so many people take this side path? I collected a lot of it, but that’s a definite candidate for a station next time. And I’ll bring a pail of bricks to weigh down boxes in the wind.
Many thanks to Kurtis Sports Management for keeping this race sustainable and choosing us to get it done. But maybe order some warmer weather next time?
Happy Planet Running 