Kilian Jornet and 2,000 runners tell UTMB to dump sponsor Dacia
Former Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) winners Kilian Jornet and Lizzy Hawker, The Green Runners (TGR) and 2,200 runners have told UTMB to dump its new, high-carbon sponsor, car manufacturer Dacia.
Kilian Jornet, Lizzy Hawker, Emelie Forsberg, Beth Pascall, Jasmin Paris, Andy Symonds, Lucy Bartholomew, Hillary Gerardi, Ellie Greenwood, Jo Meek and Damian Hall are some of the elite and recreational runners who’ve signed TGR petition asking the sport’s flagship race, the rebranded Dacia UTMB® Mont-Blanc (DUTMB) which takes place this Friday (1 September), to say no to sportswashing.
It’s a DUtMB idea, says TGR.
We’re in a climate and ecological emergency and fossil fuels are the biggest part of the problem. Instead of dealing with the global catastrophe they’ve created, the industry is trying to distract us and clean up its image by investing heavily in sports, ie sportswashing, such as football, golf, cycling and now trail running.
The Game Changer Sponsorship Pledge aims to kick high-carbon sponsors out of sport and defines them as, ‘fossil fuel companies, fossil fuel financiers, airports and airlines, and car manufacturers.’
Road travel accounts for three-quarters of transport emissions, mostly from passenger vehicles – cars and buses – which contribute 45.1%. Dacia boasts 8 million customers in 44 countries and primarily makes SUVs. SUVs emit 25% more CO2 than an average car and four times more than an EV. SUVs’ global emissions are equal to those of the UK or Germany and if they were a country SUVs would be the sixth largest polluting nation.
“[It is] our duty to mobilise our resources and involve all our stakeholders in the fight against global warming”, says the UTMB website.
TGR asks, how can an event so reliant on magnificent trails and views around the Mont Blanc massif jump into bed with an industry central to causing the climate breakdown we’re now seeing, such as the rapidly melting glaciers in the Chamonix Valley?
Within a few days of launching the petition, more than 2,200 runners from 54 countries had signed, while the story had been covered in US and French press and radio.
UTMB management were soon in touch to instigate talks and a frank conversation took place. While the two sides didn’t agree, discussions are ongoing.
The Pro Trail Runners Association have also held talks with UTMB on the same subject.
TGR have since delivered in person and published online an open letter (attached) to UTMB, in which they say, “Your partnership with Dacia has disappointed and even angered many in the trail running community.”
The new UTMB World Series already has an unnecessarily large footprint, due to a new format encouraging runners to travel internationally to races, which in many cases means flights, in order to qualify for the Series Finals.
“The places where we practise our activities are changing drastically by climate change and pollution…” saidKilian Jornet, four-time UTMB winner and TGR member. “Today if we have the luxury to choose, we should aim for future before profit.”“It’s really disappointing to see UTMB teaming up with a high-carbon sponsor,” says TGR co-founder Jasmin Paris, who’s placed 6th at UTMB. “I call upon them to end their relationship with Dacia.”“I feel strongly that sports which take place outdoors, in natural environments, should promote the protection of our planet as a priority over money, money, money,” says Andy Symonds, who’s placed 5th at UTMB and won Des Templiers. “It’s very sad and disappointing when sports teams and events associate themselves with companies whose activities are entirely capitalistic and environmentally destructive.”“What makes the UTMB so special is the stunning views of the Mont Blanc massif,” says Dan Lawson, GB ultrarunner, TGR co-founder and UTMB finisher. “They’re betraying the very thing – the environment, the mountains, nature – that make the race so good.”“Despite being on the start line in Chamonix five times previously,” says We Can’t Run Away From This-author Damian Hall, who’s placed 5th at UTMB, “I won’t be running a UTMB Mont-Blanc race while they have a high-carbon sponsor.”
TGR have no issue whatsoever with runners making car journeys in Dacias or other vehicles, or those eagerly awaiting to run UTMB races this week. We just think sportswashing is a DUtMB idea.
