RESOURCES FOR RACE DIRECTORS

ParalympicsGB Training Camp Achieves Silver Certification

from Council for Responsible Sport 

Working in partnership with EDF Energy, the British Paralympic Association reaches a milestone in the lead-up to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. 

January 18, 2011 – Portland, OR: Council for Responsible Sport (CRS) Executive Director Keith Peters announced today that the British Paralympic Association (BPA) have successfully completed their application for Silver CRS Certification of the ParalympicsGB August 2011 training camp at the University of Bath. This certification of a multi-day, residential event is a first for the Council; all previous CRS Certified events have been one-day races like the Gold Certified EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon in the UK and the Big Sur Half Marathon in the U.S. 

“It has been a pleasure to work with the BPA, EDF Energy and sustainability consultant Toby Radcliffe on this certification,” said Catherine Humblet, Managing Director of the Council for Responsible Sport. “It’s been a great team effort that involved not only the BPA, EDF and Toby, but included 11 different Paralympic sports and hundreds of athletes and staff – all committed to living a lower carbon lifestyle when training and competing, and in their daily lives.” 

Humblet went on to say: “All the hard work this team has done will be of tremendous benefit to other groups who are committed to bringing sustainability to multi-day sporting events. The innovative approach to athlete and visitor education was particularly impressive, with the Low Carbon Arcade being my favorite – watching camp visitors use a hand-powered stationary bicycle, knowing they were experiencing something about what it takes to compete as a Paralympian while learning about generating power for electricity was a great lesson in connecting the dots.” 

EDF Energy has been working in partnership with the BPA since 2010, helping them become a greener team ahead of London 2012. EDF Energy worked with a number of organizations involved with the 2011 camp including the BPA, the University of Bath and waste management specialist M.J. Church to improve the environmental impact of the athletes’ stay in a number of ways - from promoting recycling facilities and low carbon transport to helping make sure local, organic and fair-trade food was available to the athletes. BP, also a London 2012 partner, conducted offsetting of some of the carbon emissions from the Camp.  

Gareth Wynn, London 2012 Programme Director at EDF said: “The athletes have thrown themselves into doing their bit for sustainability alongside their training. It is very rewarding for us to see our best athletes preparing not only to compete and win in their sport but also to be part of the greenest team. They are great role models for all of us on and off the field of play.   

“EDF is using its partnership with London 2012 and the emotional power of the Games to encourage people to change the way they think about and use energy so it’s fantastic to have helped achieve a world first with the silver accreditation from CRS. Obviously we now want to go one better by going for gold in 2012 for the Camp that takes place just prior to the Games”.  

Tim Hollingsworth, BPA CEO, said: “I am delighted that we have achieved the silver accreditation.  This achievement is the result of a very successful partnership which has developed with EDF Energy and is proof that we have made real progress in our goal of making the BPA and ParalympicsGB a leading force in sustainability as well as sport. 2012 is obviously a huge year for us and we’re hoping for continued progress and success across the board, including with our efforts to become a greener team; work that will contribute to a positive legacy of sustainability for the Games.” 

The Council for Responsible Sport provides an independent, comprehensive certification for event directors to incorporate environmental and socially responsible initiatives into their events while informing consumers about events that adhere to higher standards of sustainability. CRS Certified events range in size from the ParalympicsGB Training Camp at the University of Bath in the UK, with some 150 athletes participating, to the AJC Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia, with 55,077 timed finishers. To date, 35 different events have achieved certification from the Council for Responsible Sport, serving over 565,000 athletes in the process. A complete listing of CRS Certified events can be found at: http://www.councilforresponsiblesport.org/certification/certified-events/

 The Council for Responsible Sport’s certification standards have been developed by an outside working group of 18 sustainability experts and reviewed by a wide range of stakeholders. CRS Certification is modeled after the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System, which certifies buildings and materials according to resource conservation and energy efficiency criteria.

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About the Council for Responsible Sport:

Founded in 2007 to empower sporting event producers to incorporate sustainably into their events, the Council for Responsible Sport is about inspired innovation and unprecedented collaboration. The mission of CRS is to partner with stakeholders in the sports industry as catalysts for sustainable change. From half marathons to football games to lacrosse and snowboarding, the Council believes athletes and spectators alike have the opportunity to encourage sports to adopt sustainable practices.

In addition to administering a certification program for sports events, CRS also offers peer-to-peer learning communities and access to online tools, case studies and strategic partnerships to assist leaders and businesses actively engaged in the sports industry.

About the BPA: 

The BPA is the organisation responsible for sending the best prepared ParalympicsGB team to every summer and winter Paralympic Games. We work closely with all 20 summer and 4 winter sports to achieve this. Only the very best athletes from our sports are selected to represent ParalympicsGB at a Paralympic Games. 

We are proud of our tradition of outstanding performance at the Paralympic Games: Britain has finished second in the medals table at the last three summer Paralympic Games and brought home from Beijing 102 medals, 42 of them gold. 

With the next summer Games on home soil, the BPA are exploring every possible option that might have a positive impact on the performance of British athletes in 2012 enabling them to achieve their personal best when it matters most. We recognise that the performance of ParalympicsGB will have an impact on changing perceptions of disability sport and influencing attitudes towards disability. 

About EDF Energy:  

EDF Energy is one of the UK’s largest energy companies and the largest producer of low-carbon electricity, producing around one-sixth of the nation's electricity from its nuclear power stations, wind farms, coal and gas power stations and combined heat and power plants. The company supplies gas and electricity to more than 5.5 million business and residential customer accounts and is the biggest supplier of electricity by volume in Great Britain.

EDF Energy’s safe and secure operation of its eight existing nuclear power stations at sites across the country makes it the UK’s largest generator of low carbon electricity. EDF Energy is also leading the UK's nuclear renaissance and has published plans to build four new nuclear plants, subject to the right investment framework. These new plants could generate enough low carbon electricity for about 40% of Britain’s homes. They would make an important contribution to the UK’s future needs for clean, secure and affordable energy. The project is already creating business and job opportunities for British companies and workers. 

Through Our Sustainability Commitments, EDF Energy has launched one of the biggest environmental and social programmes of any British energy company and the company has since been awarded the highest ranking of Platinum Plus in Business in the Community’s 2011 Corporate Responsibility Index, the UK’s leading voluntary benchmark of corporate responsibility.  

EDF is the official energy utilities partner and sustainability partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company is also helping its customers and others use energy more sustainably through products and initiatives such as Team Green Britain, smart meters and electric vehicle research. 

EDF Energy is part of EDF Group, one of Europe’s largest power companies. The company employs around 15,000 people at locations across the UK. 

For more news from EDF Energy please see www.edfenergy.com/media-centre/ <http://www.edfenergy.com/media-centre/> . To find out more about the UK's energy challenges look at <http://www.edfenergy.com/energyfuture/>