New wooden medals for City marathon finishers
With ticket sales having closed on Tuesday, May 30th for one of the country’s most popular long distance running fixtures, the Cork City Marathon, organisers have announced that registrations for their events over the June bank holiday weekend are already up 20% on last year’s figure.
Finishers of this year’s events will receive wooden medals commemorating their achievements at the Cork City Marathon for the first time. Race Project Manager Julie Sebode from Davis Events Agency says it’s part of their overall drive to improve sustainability.
“We’re working with an Irish company to provide these special mementos that are more environmentally friendly. Each event’s medal has a particular design and they look brilliant. We’re really proud to join other Irish events which have led the way on this switch away from metal and I’m sure they will be proudly worn by everyone who crosses the finish line on the day.”
The change to wooden medals is part of a range of measures taken to reduce Cork City Marathon’s impact on the environment, including putting tickets, the race programme, all maps and forms online to save paper, as well as giving participants the opportunity to have a tree planted in their name, rather than receiving a t-shirt to remember the occasion. Official water partner Ishka Irish Spring Water is also providing bottles of water that are 100% recyclable, including their caps and labels.
Mary Walsh, Cork City Council’s Environmental Awareness Officer commented “I think that this is a great initiative and is a real step forward in the delivery of a greener and more sustainable marathon. The Marathon has always led by example and been innovative in terms of environmental sustainability and I would like to congratulate the marathon organisers Cork City Council and Davis Events on continuing this progress and further greening the event.”
Sunday, June 4th will see participants spread across three events - the full marathon, half marathon and the event’s inaugural 10k race. The full marathon and 10k will begin on Patrick’s Street while the half marathon runners will start their course from Monahan Road, and all runners will have the opportunity to soak up the special experience of crossing the finish line on Patrick’s Street.