Member Article

adidas Manchester Marathon commits to planting trees across Greater Manchester through City of Trees

In celebration of National Tree Week, the adidas Manchester Marathon, one of Europe’s largest and famously friendly marathons, has today announced it has joined forces with City of Trees as its Green Runner charity for the forthcoming 2024 event.

As part of the challenge’s eco-friendly Green Runners initiative, which strives to improve the event’s sustainability and reduce its environmental impact, the adidas Manchester Marathon aims to donate £5,000 to City of Trees to support the planting of trees across Greater Manchester.

Each tree will be rooted in areas surrounding the 26.2-mile route to give back to communities such as those that participants will pass through.

Currently, approximately 7% of participants have chosen not to receive a finishers t-shirt and a further 2% have opted out of the finishers medal and t-shirt at the end of the event. Participants who have already registered can change their entry to a Green Runner by logging into the event portal. The amount saved from the production of t-shirts and medals will be donated to City of Trees.

Since its launch in 2015, City of Trees has been delivering a green recovery and tackling the climate emergency head on, working with landowners and volunteers to plant millions of trees, create new woodlands and bring unused or unloved woodland back to life for the people and wildlife of Greater Manchester.

Commenting, Chief Executive of adidas Manchester Marathon event organiser Human Race, Andrew Smith, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to welcome City of Trees as our Green Runner charity for the 2024 event. We’re constantly looking at ways to improve the sustainability of our event and have a long-lasting impact within the local community, so it’s an exciting opportunity to work with a charity whose commitment to protecting the environment is equal to our own.”

Fundraising Manager of City of Trees, Alex Bedford, added: “We’re very excited to be working with the adidas Manchester Marathon on their mission to give back to the people of the region by helping to plant trees for future generations. Trees are proven to improve both physical and mental health and so we are delighted to be working together to create greener, happier spaces for the runners of Greater Manchester to enjoy.”

Early and General Entries for the event are already sold out due to tremendous demand, with over 30,000 participants expected to run the route of the adidas Manchester Marathon on Sunday 14th April, 2024. The final allocation of entries will be released in early January to those who have signed up to receive a priority invitation which will be available on a first come first served basis.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucie Hayes .