Social
WHAT WE ALREADY DO
Active engagement with community groups, schools and organisations at Skyline Scotland®, Dragon’s Back Race® and Cape Wrath Ultra®.
Support a local homeless charity with donations of surplus food throughout the year.
Support multiple charitable organisations connected to the areas where our races take place.
Provide a pathway for anyone to participate in our events through a generous credit scheme for event volunteers.
Develop and share good practice guidance across the event industry.
Supporting employees who volunteer for Mountain Rescue with flexible working.
Raise donations for the Kendal Mountain Rescue team through organising the Kendal Trail Race at the Kendal Mountain Festival.
Organise an annual volunteering day with Fix the Fells for Ourea employees.
Work with Black Trail Runners and South East Asian to increase participation at GL3D.
WHAT WE ARE PLEDGING TO DO
Work with SheRACES to organise female only ultra races, including involving local communities.
Above: The event team setting up registration at the 2019 Dragon's Back Race® - we offer generous event credit to all volunteers so that whoever you are and whatever your background, you can participate in one of our iconic events ©No Limits Photography
Undoubtedly Ourea Events is a leading organiser of mountain running events in the UK with a reputation that is now international thanks to our high profile events. We have a clear and moral responsibility to set the highest possible standards in every way that we operate the business and share this good practice with other event organisers. Some of this good practice is ethical (this Sustainability Strategy), some is legal (advocating in the past for full refunds for consumers whose events have been cancelled due to COVID-19), and some is technical. The business is already deeply involved in supporting mountain and trail running events and recreation behind the scenes.
Mountain and trail running events may be beyond the reach of some members of society. We want to ensure that there are opportunities to get involved as a participant or volunteer that enables social mobility and a broadening of the demographics of off-road running. For example, when someone offers to volunteer at our events, we pay their travel expenses (within limits) and feed them throughout their time with the event. We are aware that our two expedition races are expensive and therefore we offer a pathway to participate by providing generous event credit to anyone who volunteers, so that whoever you are and whatever your background there is a route to standing on the start line of one of our iconic races.
Part of our social responsibility is to share the reasons for this comprehensive Sustainability Strategy with our participants, encouraging them to change their behaviors to support our waste and carbon reduction goals. This might mean in the future that an event car park is charged on a per-person-in-the-vehicle basis to encourage car sharing, for example. We will need our participants to support these kinds of changes.
Finally, we support multiple organisations in their work to protect and conserve the natural environment.
Did you know?
This area of focus is part of our progression towards goals 8 and 9 of the Outdoor Friendly Pledge