As greater than a file 25,000 runners took to the streets for the 2025 BMO Vancouver Marathon, one native resident discovered himself coping with a number of the mess left behind.
“BMO Vancouver Marathon, the place do I ship the bill?” wrote Vancouver resident Kristians Kārkliņš in a video posted to Instagram Tuesday, which has since racked up greater than 100,000 views. The video exhibits him gathering lots of of discarded gel packets, wrappers and bottles alongside the Stanley Park Seawall—hours after the marathon ended.
Kārkliņš says he went for a stroll on Sunday night and was shocked by the quantity of race-day garbage nonetheless scattered throughout rocks, seashores, and even floating within the ocean. When he returned the subsequent day and located it untouched, he determined to take motion himself.
“I picked up greater than 500 gel packets—most of them nonetheless sticky with residue,” he stated. “Why wasn’t there a same-day cleanup? Whether or not it’s the town or the race organizers, somebody must be accountable.”
Initially from Latvia, Kārkliņš moved to Vancouver in November 2024 and sometimes walks the 9.5-kilometre Seawall loop in Stanley Park. He spent over 4 hours gathering litter from what’s thought of a protected sanctuary within the metropolis.
“Is it obligatory for marathon runners to toss gel packets on the bottom?” he requested. “Is littering a part of the game now?”
Even some contributors expressed outrage on the aftermath. “I assumed there can be a cleanup crew behind us,” one runner commented. “With the variety of gels I noticed dropped, it appeared apparent.”
One other marathoner, who requested to stay nameless, admitted he by no means gave it a lot thought: “I figured it was the race or sponsor’s job to deal with cleanup.”
Below B.C.’s Environmental Administration Act, littering in Stanley Park is prohibited and might carry fines of as much as $2,000. The Stanley Park Ecology Society additionally enforces strict guidelines to guard the park’s pure setting.
Kārkliņš famous that almost all of discarded gels he picked up had been from main manufacturers like Gu, Maurten and Honey Stinger.
“As runners, we must be doing higher,” Kārkliņš stated. “And the race administrators ought to have a sweep crew behind the final contributors to wash up the mess.”
Canadian Working reached out to RunVan, the race’s organizing physique, which requested runners to do higher in an announcement: “Members could discard waste at one of many 200 bins on target, together with at every support station and each kilometre mark of the final 10 km. The occasion doesn’t supply gels inside Stanley Park and prides itself on a excessive waste diversion fee. The cleanup crew went out to help with additional areas recognized post-race, with many objects collected not supplied by the occasion. We nonetheless name out to your entire operating group to do a greater job of respecting the setting.”