Flirt with Dirt is a 5K or 10K trail race at Maybury State Park, put on by RF Events. This year, with a perfect morning weather-wise and a small “footprint” there’s not much to say waste-wise, although there was some drama when a group of people went off-trail and got temporarily lost. (AFAIK all turned out okay.)
Whether this guy got lost or not, he’s happy to be done!
We needed just one station, along with an All Waste box near registration that got about half full. This is one of RF’s cupless events, which cuts the overall waste way down. That said, we did get some cups when the finish line ran out of the plastic disposable water bottles. Which was fine with me, as cups are easier to handle than bottles.
Staffer Anna Beth and volunteer Mike at the station. Mike is sporting the original “Team Zero Waste” T-shirt, created by RF Events in 2016 when I was doing zero waste as a volunteer. Wish I’d known, I’d have worn mine, too!
With just bananas and snack bags at the finish along with water bottles, sorting was quick and easy. We even had time to clean out some additional recyclable materials in the park’s trash cans along with the race waste placed in them. And with T-shirts optional, cardboard remains down from earlier years. We nearly had another “single baggie o’ trash,” and this “sleeve o’ trash” weighed only 3 ounces, the biggest item being one PPE mask.
It’s great to have a few events where you’re done and outta there before noon, and keep 99 percent of the waste out of the landfill!
Happy Planet Running 