Urban environments can be just as biodiverse as rural ones, with nature woven into every nook and cranny of the streets, as well as parks and waterways.
If you look closely enough, you’ll be surprised at what you can find. That's exactly what the TCS London Marathon plogging event offered: a chance to slow down, take a closer look around Central London, and play an active role in our environment.
The concept of plogging originated in Sweden around 2016, combining the Swedish phrases “plocka upp” (pick up) and “jogga” (jog). It shows that running is also about taking responsibility for the spaces we pass through every day.
Following a successful trial in Brighton, and inspired by plogging events hosted by other Abbott World Marathon Majors, including New York and Chicago, a plogging event was hosted by our Sustainability Team as a free-to-attend activity on the Friday of Marathon Week.
The plogging route started and finished at the London National Park City Visitor Centre, just off Regent Street, and highlighted how runners and nature can be better connected, even in the heart of London.
Among the ploggers was Tina Muir, former elite marathoner and CEO of global running community, Running for Real.
She said:
“For the Sustainability Team to make the time to host a plogging event a few days before Marathon Day really shows their commitment to finding ways to build community, take care of our planet, and be a positive force in this world. It has been amazing to give back to the city that's going to give us so much on Sunday.”
“The surprising part for me was finding a lot of rubbish inside the planter boxes. It made me a little sad, but it was good to remove it. When there's less rubbish in there to start with, people are less likely to stuff more in there.”
Another plogger was Bridget Chavez. This will be Bridget’s seventh marathon, and she was keen to come to the event to make a difference.
“It's cool to see people coming together to do something that seems small, but can have such a lasting impact,” she said. “These plastics and paper wind up in the environment, and no one picks them up, and they slowly ruin the earth. So hopefully people seeing us out here can take that example and pick up one piece of trash, because just one person doing one small thing can actually make a difference.”
The group of ploggers worked together to reduce waste on the streets and parks they passed through, directly helping to reduce pollution. Beyond the immediate clean-up, the event also encouraged runners to think differently about waste and be more considerate towards the environment in their everyday lives.
The London National Park City team is keen to support clean-up initiatives like this, as well as highlight and celebrate London’s vast network of green and blue spaces.
A London National Park City spokesperson explained:
“London is greener and wilder than you might think! Over 50% of the capital is green and blue, home to 8.4 million trees, 17,500 species (other than humans), 4,400 parks and green spaces, 850km of streams and rivers, four World Heritage Sites, two National Nature Reserves, and 142 Local Nature Reserves.”
It was this richness that led London to become the world’s first National Park City in 2019, when more than 300 organisations and thousands of individuals came together around a shared mission: to make the city a place where people and nature are more closely connected.
