It is Tuesday afternoon, June 7, in Barcelona and a blue tide of runners runs through the streets of the city until nightfall. This fact, in principle, should not attract excessive attention. But it turns out that it was not a conventional race for regular runners: the objective was not to win or improve a record, but to protect the planet, specifically, the seas.
Now that the good weather has arrived, it is likely that you have taken your first dips in the sea and it is also likely that, while enjoying soaking and waves, you have come across some unwanted bag, bottle or plastic object. It is quite likely, I say, because every minute the amount of plastic equivalent to a garbage truck - ranging from two to 10 tons - full of this material is thrown into the oceans, according to the United Nations.
Last year, global plastic production reached 461 million tonnes, following a rapid increase over the past 20 years, according to the OECD. Of the total plastics placed on the market each year, only 6% comes from recycling. 91% of the plastic in the world is not recycled. The consequences of all this, in addition to you finding those unwanted objects in the sea, are hundreds of years for the plastic to disappear, at least 700 marine species affected, many of which ingest the plastic, which will end up in your body.
“The other day we ran live with more than 500 people in a spectacular event led by @adidas_es for
The challenge, which had started days before, encouraged everyone to run to clean the oceans: for every 10 minutes run until June 8, the equivalent weight of a plastic bottle would be removed from the coasts. The way to count that time was done through a mobile app. The day of the final race was part of another challenge, that of TheGrefg to achieve a physical change in five months thanks to sport.
For her part, streamer Gemita managed to gather more than 500 people to run next to the beach in Barcelona. But before putting on the sneakers and hitting the asphalt, there was a presentation ceremony for the event, which was attended by some top-level figures from Spanish sports. Basketball player Ricky Rubio could not run due to a knee injury and went live via video call. Doing the math, since he has been in the NBA, with 500 games played plus friendlies, he has removed more than 2,000 plastic bottles from the sea.
The one who did attend the event in person was the athlete Ana Peleteiro, bronze medalist in the triple jump at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. “In athletics there is room for everyone: tall, short, skinny, chubby... it's sport more egalitarian,” he said to encourage everyone to practice it.
One of the most anticipated moments was the appearance of ultra-distance runner Sergio Turull, better known on social media as Pitufollow, who arrived from Paris. 1,130 km traveled in 21 days and despite having an ankle swollen “like a ball” due to a sprain.
When it was time to put the lessons of the sports stars into practice, TheGrefg called on its followers to begin a 10 km challenge divided into four 2.5 km routes. Between autographs, calls from fans, fun conversations with them one on one during the race and group pull-ups or sit-ups between stages, more than 500 people in blue t-shirts completed a route that ended with applause and a “family” photo.
In total, 3,640 people - between the 500 who ran in the event and those who did it through the app - signed up for TheGrefg's Run for the oceans group, adding a total of 1,269 hours and 50 minutes, which is equivalent to 7 .6 thousand bottles collected only by TheGrefg fans. If Sergio Turull was the one who contributed the most to this group's challenge, the person who has added the most minutes to the initiative worldwide recorded 405 hours and 57 minutes, which is equivalent to collecting almost 2,500 plastic bottles alone. Worldwide, 3,561,542 hours have been added to the app.
Thanks to this initiative, since 2015, adidas has manufactured 50 million pairs of sneakers with plastic from the sea. In 2021 alone it manufactured 18 million. This year, in addition, adidas and Parley have announced the launch of the Ultraboost 22 x Parley and Adizero x Parley sneakers, in which the carbon footprint has been reduced by 3.5 kilos per pair, without compromising the performance of the shoe. , which represents a new milestone in sustainability.
So the goal of ending plastic waste did not end last Thursday. Plastic is the problem, but the solution involves innovation in more sustainable materials and it also involves us, sports lovers, choosing the most sustainable option to run, play tennis or walk through life.
