Industry Shorts: Vmlm, Lta, Rfl, Img…
London Marathon Events (LME) has stepped up its sustainability efforts by establishing a team within the company that will be responsible for developing new environmental initiatives.
As part of the strategic move, LME has commissioned a full review of its sustainability efforts – including an audit of the company’s recycling chain and waste management processes – and also committed to sending no waste to landfill sites by the end of next year.
A number of initiatives will be tested during the 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon on 28th April, including the introduction of a closed-loop recycling project for plastic bottles in four London boroughs, where the bottles discarded during the marathon will be returned directly to a reprocessing plant, as well as a reduction in the total number of drink stations on the course from 26 to 19.
Seven hundred runners will also carry new bottle belts made from 90% recycled materials while new edible and biodegradable Ooho seaweed capsules will be provided by Lucozade Sport.
Following a trial of compostable cups at one Lucozade Sport station during the 2018 marathon, three stations will use compostable cups rather than bottles in 2019, with the cups then collected and composted.
In addition, so-called ‘drop zones’ will be introduced along the course, giving runners designated places where they can throw away their bottles, while 500 runners will wear reusable capes at the start and finish, reducing the need for plastic kit bags.
Race numbers will also only be printed on demand, with the numbers having been pre-printed for all 52,000 accepted runners in the past, even though some 10,000 fail to make it to the start line.
The Rugby Football League (RFL) has extended an integrity partnership with data services provider Sportradar.
The relationship has been extended through to the end of 2020, covering all levels of the professional game.
The RFL, which has been working with Sportradar since 2017, said that the company had monitored more than 200 matches last year and not found any evidence of betting-related irregularities.
As part of the relationship, Sportradar has organised integrity workshops with club representatives and RFL officials, as well as monitoring matches via its Fraud Detection System.
Andreas Krannich, Managing Director of Integrity Services at Sportradar, said: “The extension of our partnership with the RFL into a third season vindicates our continued investment in both the Fraud Detection System and our network of highly trained betting experts worldwide.
“The RFL will once again invest in our education workshops to inform players and officials at the clubs about the threat of match fixing as part of their proactive approach to prevention.”
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has announced a new partnership with Crew Clothing.
Under the two-year deal, the clothing brand will serve as the official outfitter for the LTA’s Fever-Tree Championships, as well as the series of Nature Valley tournaments, which include events in Nottingham, Birmingham and Eastbourne.
As part of the agreement, Crew Clothing will provide outfits for all members of the ball crew and on-court officials, as well as Fever-Tree Championships stewards. The brand will also have a retail presence on site at the Birmingham, London and Eastbourne events.
The partnership ties in with Crew Clothing’s 2019 campaign, ‘Summer of Sport’, which will include a series of multi-channel marketing activations across cricket and golf, as well as tennis.
Electric-powered car races will be staged during FIA World Rallycross Championship weekends under a new initiative spearheaded by IMG Motorsports, a division of the IMG agency.
IMG, the series’ promoter, said that the launch of Projekt E acknowledged “a future that embraces sustainability, responsibility and advanced technologies”, enabling the agency to become a “pioneer in the introduction of electric vehicle technologies to a production-based motorsport series”.
IMG added that it would work with the FIA, motorsport’s global governing body, to develop the Projekt E format over the coming months to determine which cars will line up on the grid on race weekends.
The FIA has sanctioned the Formula E electric car-racing world championship since its inaugural campaign in 2014.
In January, Formula E announced its own electric off-road racing concept, which will launch in 2021.
