The Newport Rhode Races Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K returns to the “city-by-the-sea” on Apr. 15. Organizers have announced a new sustainability initiative, partnering with zero-waste consultants and composting provider Epic Renewal to work towards becoming a zero-waste event.
“Rhode Races aims to be responsible stewards of the communities we hold events in. Alongside community and charitable partnerships, sustainability has been a key focus of ours from the beginning,” said Susan Rancourt, co-founder of Rhode Races. “With the help of Epic Renewal’s experts, we are thrilled to take this progressive step towards ensuring future generations of runners can continue to explore our amazing planet.”
Epic Renewal will work alongside the Rhode Races team before, during and after race day. As a part of the engagement, Newport Rhode Races will feature zero waste stations, on-site composting and education for participants to help them utilize the added sustainable features.
The move is the next step in a tradition of stewardship and community engagement that Rhode Races brings to races across the state. Events will continue to feature recycling and upcycling programs. Each race integrates charitable fundraising and unique nonprofit partners that impact the host city. In addition, Rhode Races works with local authorities in government and tourism to ensure neighborhoods are positively impacted by race weekend.
The event also offers local children the opportunity to set their own running goals and complete 26.2 miles. The Final Mile Fitness Program recently kicked off in local schools and children’s programs. During the program, participating kids complete 25 miles of running. As a finale, they join runners in the Newport Rhode Races Beach Mile to complete their own version of the marathon distance.
Newport Rhode Races occurs in conjunction with the Annual Newport Daffodil Days Festival, and the courses will pass along many of the over 1.2 million daffodils that bloom through Newport in the spring. Participants are treated to free race photos, tech t-shirts, and finisher medals. The marathon begins at 7:30 a.m., followed by the half marathon at 8 a.m. and the 5K at 8:30 a.m. at Easton’s Beach. The marathon course is USATF certified and is a Boston Marathon Qualifier.
A post-race festival will follow the events, with food, beverages and complimentary beer from Sam Adams for finishers over the age of 21. The festival will also feature music, vendors, recovery zone, an award ceremony and more.
Registration for all three distances is open. Those interested in participating can sign up on the event’s website.
For more information on Rhode Races, visit www.rhoderaces.com and follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, Instagra
ABOUT RHODE RACES
Rhode Races was formed in October 2015 by Susan Rancourt and Karen Zyons. The female-owned Rhode Island based running event company is guided by their mission to promote running and fitness and be a good partner to the communities where they run. As a RI B-Corp, they aim to create impact through fundraising, goal achievement, self-esteem building, environmental awareness, and support in growing the running community in Rhode Island and beyond. The Rhode Races team utilizes their 20 years of combined event management experience to produce their own events, as well as turn-key fundraisers, road races, sporting events and more for their clients. For more information on Rhode Races, visit www.rhoderaces.com and follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, Instagra
ABOUT EPIC RENEWAL
Epic Renewal is a community-scale composting organization. We work to keep food waste out of landfills, and use it to build healthy soils and support equitable and resilient food systems. We provide easy composting services for home, business, and events, as well as zero waste consulting to help people further shrink their carbon footprint.
Composting locally creates local jobs, reduces the trucking footprint for our waste, and allows us to transform our food scraps into a key resource to build healthy soils and support our local food system.
A zero-waste event is one with a keen eye towards minimizing landfill waste, with the ideal goal being zero landfill waste whatsoever. We work with our clients to ensure every detail of their event is considered and makes the smallest environmental impact from vendor onboarding to clear signage and friendly event staff. We divert everything organic from landfill with our composting services, and ensure other discards are dealt with responsibly.
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