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Emera Blue Nose Marathon Achieves Gold Standard as Atlantic Canada’s First Certified Responsible Sporting Event
The Emera Blue Nose Marathon has joined the ranks of world-class sporting events, such as the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Bank of American Chicago Marathon and TCS London Marathon, that have achieved third-party verified certification with the Council for Responsible Sport. This makes the Blue Nose Marathon the first responsible sporting event in Atlantic Canada to earn such recognition. The 20th annual event was awarded gold status after demonstrating, measuring, and managing its commitment to social, economic and environmental responsibility.
As the world’s leading responsible sport certification program, the Council for Responsible Sport helps organizations transform their thinking toward sport in action, creating innovative ways to adapt event operations that are noticeable, meaningful and more responsible. Of the 61 total potential credit points in the collection of best practices, the Blue Nose Marathon earned 48 credits.
“The Emera Blue Nose Marathon team has made exceptional efforts to build a legacy of positive impact within the Halifax running community,” said Jen Cerullo, Verifier with the Council for Responsible Sport. “Through the development of impressive community partnerships and creative waste management solutions, they’ve built a strong foundation of sustainability for the race to grow from. Their impressive support of community race events across the province extended the reach of their positive impact. The Emera Blue Nose Marathon has helped set a high standard of sustainability for Canadian road races and has earned their well-deserved place as the first event to be certified by the Council for Responsible Sport in Atlantic Canada.”
Since inception, Blue Nose Marathon has been mindful of its impact on the environment and greater community. One of the organizations core values remains sustainability: “we honour the land on which we operate and respect the resources that we use to ensure we are responsible to leave the community better than we found it.”
While the organization has been recognized for sustainability efforts in the past, being named the 2018 Sustainable Sport Event of the Year by the Canadian Sport Tourism Association, Blue Nose Marathon aims to continue their commitment as an industry leader.
Some of Blue Nose Marathon’s ongoing sustainability efforts include:
- Partnering with 61 Official Giv’er Chairty Challenge Partners to collectively raise more than $256,000 for the community.
- Making every effort to purchase local products and services to minimize the event’s carbon footprint and support the community.
- Bringing Local Doctors Nova Scotia Youth Runs to five communities across Nova Scotia, removing barriers to race participation, such as distance.
- Diverting 83% of waste from landfills, including food, clothing, medals and signage.
- Eliminating bottles and installing flow metres on Halifax Water hydrants to record water consumption and management.
- Measuring the carbon footprint of event operations, participant and volunteer travel, vendor emissions, and electricity.
- Offering complementary Halifax Transit services to volunteers and participants on race weekend, as well as a Bike Valet with the help of the Halifax Cycling Coalition.
- Translating promotional materials and the event registration page to French to better communicate with French Nova Scotians.
- Adjusting communications to be more gender inclusive (e.g., straight fit versus male shirt).
- Providing 400 race entries to equity-seeking groups and local youth through partnerships with Emera Inc. and Atlantic Chip Sport Timing.
“We are honored to have received Gold from the Council for Responsible Sport,” said Sherri Robbins, Executive Director of the Emera Blue Nose Marathon. “Becoming the first certified event in Atlantic Canada is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team—staff, partners, volunteers, participants and the community. It reaffirms our belief that events can be both fun and environmentally, economically, and socially responsible. We look forward to continuing our journey towards a more sustainable future and promoting responsible practices within the sporting industry.”
For more information on the Emera Blue Nose Marathon, including the 2023 Sustainability Report, please visit BlueNoseMarathon.com.
