16,000 runners ‘go green’ and raise over £6 million

The Royal Parks Half Marathon took in some of the city’s most famous landmarks and four of London’s eight Royal Parks – Hyde Park, The Green Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens. The iconic, 11 London landmark route was why the race was voted the “best new event of the decade” by Runner’s World in 2017.

For the first time since the central London race’s inception in 2008, all plastic bottles and single use plastics were completely banished from the course and food and fitness festival, removing 165,232 bottles this year alone.

“Sustainability is something that has always been at the forefront of our minds,” says project lead at The Royal Parks, Persephone Deacon-Cole. “We’re extremely proud of everything we’ve achieved this year. A lot of time has been spent researching how we can improve and it’s clear after spending time listening to our community, that the environmental impact of an event is a factor in people’s decision making process when it comes to whether to sign up or not – and rightly so. We’re grateful to our partners, exhibitors and sponsors who have supported our environmental policy and we will continue to strive to make the event as sustainable as possible in 2020 and beyond.”

As proud presenting partners of the Royal Parks Half, RBC fielded a record breaking team of 330 runners, including the fastest men’s team and third place winner. Team RBC joined over 250 corporate teams from 129 companies taking part in the RBC Corporate 13.1.

“RBC were delighted to return as presenting partner of the Royal Parks Half for the third year,” says Desirée Clarke Noble, managing director and global head, Sustainability and Impact, RBC Capital Markets regional head, Citizenship, RBC Europe. “Congratulations to all the runners who took part and to The Royal Parks and Limelight Sports teams for their efforts in making this the greenest and most sustainable race in London. 2019 is a special one for RBC as it celebrates its 150^th anniversary and 110 years in London next year and we could think of no better way to mark these milestones than in London’s beautiful Royal Parks.”