Gazelle Girl Half Marathon & 5k Achieves Silver Certification from Council for Responsible Sport, Hosts a Zero Waste Event

2014 event exemplifies parent company Gazelle Sports’ commitment to environmental and social responsibility. June 11, 2014 – Eugene, OR: Council for Responsible Sport Certification Program Director Shelley Villalobos announced today that the Gazelle Girl Half Marathon & 5k, held in Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 13, 2014, has earned silver certification from the Council. In doing so, the women’s Half Marathon & 5k becomes the first event in Grand Rapids to be certified. “We set out this year to raise the bar and set new standards for sustainable sporting events in West Michigan,” said Tiler Webster Co-Race Director of the Gazelle Girl Half Marathon. “We hope to inspire and encourage other races and events to adapt similar practices to reduce the environmental impact on our beautiful community.” In addition to the social responsibility aspects of the event, Gazelle Sports scored highly in the area of resource management and particularly waste diversion, achieving a zero waste event, sending a total of just six pounds of waste to the landfill. Here is a partial list of credits earned:

• 350 articles of clothing collected from the starting line were donated to the local YWCA chapter.
• Waste free water stations—bottled water was eliminated by serving purified tap water in compostable cups
• Over 10,000 foil-lined food bar wrappers were collected separately and sent to TerraCycle to be creatively repurposed.