RUNNING GERMANY: FRANKFURT MARATHON WINS 2014 AIMS GREEN AWARD

THE world running organisation the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) is delighted to declare the Frankfurt Marathon as the 2014 winner of the AIMS Green Award.

The award, which highlights good environmental performance in marathon events, will be presented to the successful German race during the AIMS Best Marathon Runner Awards Gala Dinner, to be held in Athens, Greece on Friday 7 November.

TheFrankfurt Marathon was shortlisted for the inaugural award in 2013.

The runner up for the award was the Volkswagen Prague Marathon in the Czech Republic and second runner up was the Querétaro Maratón in Mexico.

Since 2005, the Frankfurt Marathon has worked in partnership with “The Rhein Main Environment Forum”. The objective of the Environment Forum is, in the sense of Agenda 21**, to promote a lasting and environmentally suitable development as well as environmental protection.

In partnership with this organisation, the Frankfurt Marathon has developed new projects each year in six ‘spheres of action’, where continuous improvement of environmental protection is targeted: catering, transport, waste disposal, merchandising, energy/water and freedom of movement. In each of these fields the Frankfurt Marathon works in conjunction with their sponsors to make the Marathon more environmentally friendly. In total, approximately €45,000 has been invested in environmental activities with an additional €17,000 accrued for every year of the event.

The Frankfurt Messe, one of the world’s largest trade fair companies, is at the core of the Frankfurt Marathon and their location in Frankfurt was chosen with environmental protection in mind due to the excellent infrastructure and connections to local public transport it offers. This makes the BMW Frankfurt the marathon with the shortest connecting paths since the start and finish areas, pasta party, showers, kit bag collection and start number allocation are only a few metres apart.

In addition, the route of the Frankfurt Marathon is planned with great consideration given to environmental protection. All participants in the relay marathon will be taken to and from their handover points by public transport. The handover points were selected to be in close vicinity to stations.

Since 2011, the Frankfurt Marathon have used emission free electric vehicles for all journeys on the course and for organizational duties. All car drivers are offered parking along with a shuttle service to the Messe site.

Candidates for the AIMS Green Award were judged upon a number of areas 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. This is in line with AIMS’ own environmental guidelines and the IOC Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21. **
 
The AIMS Green Award was set up in collaboration with George Kazantzopoulos, Member of the IOC Sport and Environment Commission and President of the Institute Team for the World Environmental Alliance 2004+, a non-governmental not-for-profit organisation which was the scientific partner of AIMS in the development of the AIMS Environmental Guidelines.

A screening and research process by a jury panel made up of AIMS and independent judges lead to a shortlist of three candidates. From this shortlist the AIMS Board of Directors then made the final award selection decision.

The Milano City Marathon/ITA was the winner of the AIMS GREEN AWARD 2013

Paco Borao, President of AIMS commented: “I am delighted that the Frankfurt Marathon will receive the AIMS Green Award at the home of the Marathon in Athens, Greece at the AIMS Best Marathon Runner Gala. They were shortlisted for the award last year and I am delighted that we can recognise their excellent efforts in promoting good environmental practice. They have excelled and improved their environmental practices year on year and I hope they can continue their excellent progress in the future. I must also commend the very high standard of applications and the runners up for their efforts in promoting this incredibly important issue.”

Jo Schindler, Race Director added: “We are delighted and honoured to be receiving this award. We are all looking forward to coming to Athens, the home of the Marathon and AIMS Headquarters for the AIMS BMR Gala, to receive the award. We believe that the AIMS Green Award is an excellent initiative in promoting the excellent environmental practice of so many races around the world. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to AIMS and their sponsors for recognising us with this award.”

About the AIMS Best Marathon Runner Award Gala
The purpose of the BMR Award Gala is to:

1. Announce and honour the best male and female Marathon runners of the year through the AIMS BEST MARATHON RUNNER (BMR) Award. The BMR Award replaces the AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award.
2. Recognise and honour exceptional Marathon figureheads and personalities for their contribution to the development of the Marathon movement.
3. Publicise and promote the best practice and initiatives of AIMS members (350+ race organizers) through the establishment of special environmental and social awards.
4. Enhance the role, programs and services of AIMS.

The event will be staged in Athens, Greece on Friday 7 November 2014.

About AIMS
 
The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) is a member based organisation and since being established in 1982 has grown to a membership of more than 370 of the world’s leading distance races, from over 102 countries and territories, from every continent on the planet.

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 IOC Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21

Agenda 21 was established in June 1992 at a meeting of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) as a plan of action for the introduction of sustainable development in the 21^st century.

In 1999 the Olympic Movement (OM) adopted Agenda 21: Sport for Sustainable Development. Based on the UNCED model, it lays down a clear pathway for sustainable development throughout the sporting world. Stakeholders include International and National Sports Federations, National Olympic Committees, Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs) and Youth Olympic Games (YOCOGs), sponsors, government partners, the sporting goods industry, athletes, youth and the media.

The starting point for The Olympic Movement’s Agenda 21 is that national approaches and policies on sports and environment should recognise that athletes need a healthy environment in which to train and perform at their optimum.

In addition, the document embraces the three tenets of sustainable development: Improving socioeconomic conditions, conservation and management of natural resources and strengthening the role of major groups such as women, young people and indigenous people.

For further information on AIMS please visit: aimsworldrunning.org

Peter McLean
Director of Public Relations
Association of International Marathons & Distance Races