FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chevron Houston Marathon to be Honored with
2015 AIMS Green Award
HOUSTON - (October 15, 2015) - The Association of International Marathon
and Distance Races (AIMS), a leading world-wide running organization,
announced today that the Chevron Houston Marathon is the recipient of the
2015 AIMS Green Award.
The award, which rewards and highlights best environmental practices in
marathon events, will be presented to the Chevron Houston Marathon during
the AIMS Best Marathon Runner Awards Gala, to be held in Athens, Greece on
Friday, November 6, 2015.
"We are delighted and very proud to be receiving this award," said Brant
Kotch, Race Director of the Chevron Houston Marathon. "We have worked very
hard towards our sustainability goals and to receive recognition from an
organization such as AIMS means a lot. We would like to thank AIMS, their
Members and Sponsors for recognizing us with this award."
Candidates for the AIMS Green Award were judged upon a number of criteria,
including the impact the race has had on promoting environmentally friendly
practices in marathon events, how volunteers contribute to the success of
the project and the ability for the race to educate younger generations
about the benefits of sport and environmental protection. The two other
shortlisted races were the Mexican race Maratón de la Ciudad de Mexico and
the Xiamen International Marathon in China.
Paco Borao, President of AIMS commented: "I am very much looking forward to
receiving the Chevron Houston Marathon to the AIMS Best Marathon Runner
Gala in the home of the Marathon in Athens, Greece. Their efforts to put
good environmental practice at the heart of their race have been truly
outstanding. Distance running is one of the oldest sports in the world and
it is good environmental practice like these efforts in Houston that help
ensure the future of our sport for the future."
The Chevron Houston Marathon was recognized for year round efforts towards
"Going Green". The Chevron Houston Marathon closely follows the Council for
Responsible Sport's certification standards. These efforts include a senior
manager overseeing all sustainability goals and a "Green Committee" formed
to work towards attaining them.
The Chevron Houston Marathon became the first organization to earn dual
certification from the Council for Responsible Sport for separate events
conducted on consecutive days (2012 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon; 2012
Chevron Houston Marathon). After earning Silver Level Certification in
2012, the Chevron Houston Marathon earned Gold in 2013-14 and are now
recertified at the Gold level for 2015-16.
In an effort to tackle CO2 emissions, the Chevron Houston Marathon
calculated the carbon footprint of a number of race elements for the first
time in 2015 and will use this as a target to lower for future events.
Efforts for 2016 are already underway with race medals and t-shirts not
being packaged individually, choosing host hotels within walking distance
of race elements, ensuring all catering use recyclable materials and
choosing a route designed to encompass 100% urban areas with no green space
affected by runners or spectators.
In 2015, the Chevron Houston Marathon made big strides in reducing the
waste created by the event. A "double sort" process was implemented to
efficiently sort waste. In addition, all runner and volunteer registration
was done online and all signage was created with no date to be re-used year
after year. These efforts led to 76% of waste being diverted from landfill.
About the AIMS Green Award
AIMS has been honoring races with the AIMS Green Award that have shown
exceptional work in this area since 2013. However, AIMS intention is not
only to honor 'environmental initiatives' of its members, but also to help
them improve their races, in terms of good environmental practices during
their marathon events. To this end, AIMS in collaboration with the
Institute Team for the World Environmental Alliance 2004+, a scientific
non-governmental not-for-profit organization headed by Mr. George
Kazantzopoulos, Member of the IOC Sport & Environment Commission since
2002, has established a set of environmental guidelines, in line with the
IOC Olympic Movement's Agenda 21**, over and above the creation of the AIMS
Green Award.
About AIMS
AIMS is a member based organization and since being established in 1982 has
grown to a membership of more than 390 of the world's leading distance
races, from over 108 countries and territories. AIMS Members come from
every continent on the planet and include the Athens Marathon, The
Authentic formed on the legend of Pheidippides, the Greek soldier-runner
who ran from the town of Marathon to Athens in 490 BC to announce the
Persians had been defeated in the 'Battle of Marathon'. Other AIMS members
include many of the world's greatest distance races in history such as the
Berlin, Boston, Chicago, New York & Tokyo Marathons. The three key
objectives of AIMS are:
1. To foster and promote distance running throughout the world
2. To work with the International Association of Athletic Federations
(IAAF) on all matters relating to international road races.
3. To exchange information, knowledge and expertise among members of the
association.
About the Houston Marathon Committee, Inc.
Established in 1972, the Houston Marathon Committee, Inc. (HMC), a Running
USA Founding Member, annually organizes the nation's premier winter
marathon, half-marathon, and 5K. Over 250,000 participants, volunteers and
spectators make Chevron Houston Marathon Race Day the largest single-day
sporting event in Houston. Race Weekend generates over $50 million in
economic impact for the region annually. In 2015, the Run for a Reason
Charity Program raised $2.5 million and the HMC retained Gold Certification
from the Council of Responsible Sport for industry-leading sustainability
initiatives. Host to 16 U.S. Half Marathon Championships since 2005 and the
1992 women's Olympic Trials Marathon, the HMC conducted the
nationally-televised 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, which featured men
and women competing on the same course simultaneously for the first time,
vying for the chance to represent Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games.
For more information, visit www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com or call
713.957.3453.
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