Each year the London Marathon host a number of volunteer-run recycling stations as part of their sustainability drive, which aims to be entirely carbon neutral by 2030. The recycling contributes towards a wider sustainability drive which can raise money to support London based community initiatives.
Our students were lucky enough to be positioned at the finish line and nearby Horse Guard’s parade and were in the thick of the action throughout.
Kate Chapman, Head of sustainability at the London Marathon had this to share:
“The Loughborough volunteer team were fantastic – enthusiastic, motivated, friendly and happy to get involved. It was hard work on a chilly day but they all got stuck-in and really helped to make a difference in terms of collecting in bottles and foil blankets so that these can be recycled. It takes a huge team to make the London Marathon happen, and the students played a really important and helpful role!“
The London Marathon is also a chance for our students to learn more about the organisation and running of a large-scale mass participation event, and our students really enjoyed being a part of such a world-renowned event.
Jake George, Future Space Student Ambassador took on a lead role within the volunteer team, serving as coordinator for the day and was a massive help to his peers and colleagues (He managed to log just shy of 10 miles on foot over the day to support everyone – Well done Jake!).
Jake had this to say:
“It was an absolute honour to lead this amazing group in easily the biggest event of the year that I've been a part of! The incredible pride of achievement of every runner and the energy of the crowd made this an experience that left me wanting more days such as this, despite walking 16 kms myself between Recycling stations! I will definitely run the London marathon at some point in the near future because of this experience”.
The Future Space team would like to thank all of our student volunteers for giving up their time to make a huge contribution to a huge event and representing the University extremely well – We hope you all had a great experience and well done!