Thumbs-up for plastic sachet-free Surfers
IN A remarkable turnaround, surfers organising the 43rd iconic Surfers Challenge trail run kept the 17.5km route free of plastic litter on Saturday.
This is one of the biggest and most historic races on the local calendar, and it now joins two other popular events, the Tomato Trot and the Gonubie Challenge which are sachet
Race organisers, Border Surfriders Association, have been under pressure from two women, Karen Harvey and Caron Williams, who have been speaking up about thousands of water sachets thrown on the ground, a number of which blew into the bush, onto the beach and into the ocean.
Race director Neville Wilkins, who earlier said there was no need to take up the three-year long offer from the women of a discussion on alternatives, on Saturday laid down the law on litter.
He appealed to runners at the start at Kwelera that littering was unacceptable and that there were many bins along the way which had to be used. It was stated that the race had 15 000 of the water and some sugar “lollies” to distribute.
The Dispatch reporter, who spent a lengthy three hours and 23 minutes walking at the back of the race, noted that there were up to six large bags containing unused water sachets at the German Bay and Gonubie stations.
Officials from NFB, who were running one of the stations, expressed surprise at the surplus saying that in the past there were very few left after the runners and walkers had gone past.
At Bonza Bay beach, where in the past some of the ugliest littering took place in strong winds, officials said the surplus bags from German Bay had been quickly shifted to Bonza Bay and still, there were a number of bags filled with the surplus, unwanted sachets.
Harvey, who was waiting on the route at Gonubie, camera in hand, was astounded and delighted.
“Look at this! No sachets on the ground,” she said.
Last month Harvey supplied the Dispatch with a picture showing scores of sachets strewn on the road.
Many runners were seen carrying their own bottles, or wearing hydration packs. Bins dotted along the way beyond the water supply stations were half-empty, especially those farthest from the stations.
Harvey and Williams said workers and volunteers were busy, making sure no sachets escaped into the environment. Williams said: “We we really pleased at the huge difference it makes when people get involved and take it seriously. The grommets [youth] at Bonzas were excellent. They manned their bins and patrolled the beach picking up sachets if runners missed the bin. It was really great to see runners consciously run to a bin.”
One race organiser from BSA, who was seen riding up and down the tar section in Gonubie, said they had even started picking up litter which was already on the course before the runners arrived.
“When Neville decides to do something, he does it properly,” he said and drove off. –