Green is in!

It's nice to be in the front of pack on this one. Have you noticed all the articles in the running magazines lately on "Green Races?" The RRR has been trying to do it right for some time now. That is why we offer organic cotton shirts and bandannas printed with natural ink, award finishers medals made of recycled glass, hung on lanyards made from used mylar race blankets. We utilize online registration, eliminated plastic race packets in favor of recyclable and reusable bags and this year our awards will be made from a beautiful wood that happens to be a bane of foresters as it is an invasive tree..

All this and more costs more, but we believe it's best to do it right. And so far, with the help of our sponsors and capacity registrations, we have even managed to donate proceeds to the great "green" organizations that help us put on this event: Riverwatch (Caloosahatchee River Citizens Association,) Audubon of Southwest Florida, and CREW Land and Water Trust.

If you'd like to join our fine group of sponsors see our Sponsor page for more info.

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Organizers of the River, Roots & Ruts Trail Run have worked hard to minimize the environmental impacts of the event, and the race has earned designation as a member of the Runners World/Nature’s Path Greenteam.  Among the innovative steps that organizers have taken:

o Race shirts, race bags and bandannas are made of organic cotton and printed with 100% all natural inks. You can read about the shirts and ink on High Cotton/Planet Ink's web site (one of our Silver Sponsors.) Click here for more information on why we're not using plastic bags..

o Finisher’s medals are made of recycled glass and are hung on lanyards hand-made from recycled space blankets. The medals are made exclusively for this event from molded recycled glass by Aurora Glass Works. All profits from Aurora Glass assist homeless and low-income people and families through emergency services, housing, and other charitable endeavors.

o Race hats are made from recycled plastic bottles

o Runners can carpool to the race using PickupPal, a ride-share program

o Trophies are hand-made from wood salvaged from a barn

o Registration for the race is primarily via a secure on-line web site, largely eliminating the need for paper

o Garbage is kept to a minimum by limiting the use of packaged materials and through the prominent placement of recycling bins in the race staging area

o Race proceeds are donated to local environmental organizations