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The Great Run Company
2025 Environmental Report
Volunteer Travel
While the volunteer workforce contributes a significantly smaller total footprint than participants (11.98 tCO2e), their travel habits reveal a highly engaged, locally-sourced community. The data indicates that volunteers are far more likely to utilise active travel and public transport than the average runner. The modal split for volunteers demonstrates the effectiveness of local recruitment and the accessibility of our events. High Active Travel: A standout statistic is that 12.6% of all volunteer journeys were made by walking or cycling. This is more than triple the rate of participants (3.7%), suggesting that a large proportion of volunteers are recruited from the local communities surrounding our events. Strong Rail Adoption: On average, 34% of volunteers travelled by train. This surpasses the participant rail usage figures, suggesting that volunteers prioritise low-carbon transport modes where available. The ‘Car Gap’: Cars still account for 42.9% of journeys, yet the environmental impact is disproportionate, generating 71% of total volunteer travel emissions. However, the prevalence of car- sharing was unquantified, so it would be helpful to measure this for 2026 events.
Car
Van
Train
Bus/Coach
Ferry
Motorbike
Active (Walk, Cycle)
Taxi
% of Journeys
% of Distance
% of Emissions
Event Specific Insights: Urban Connectivity: Events like Beyond London achieved a 100% rail share for recorded volunteer travel emissions. Great Scottish Run also saw 60.4% of its volunteer emissions coming from rail, indicating high usage for urban events. Rural Logistics: In contrast, the 13 Valleys event relies heavily on road transport due to its remote location. Here, cars accounted for 75.4% of travel emissions and vans contributed 24%, the highest van usage in the portfolio, reflecting the reliance on vehicles to bridge the gap between the event HQ and isolated aid stations
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