Naturally energising drink brand Tenzing today held its first ever Clean Air Run from one of the most polluted areas in London to the cleanest to mark the launch of its forward thinking Clean Air Tool. In partnership with King’s College London, the tool is designed to help runners find clean air runs in the big smoke.
We know that the level of air pollution in London is the cause of thousands of early deaths each year*, but there is one group of people that are potentially at the highest level of risk and completely unaware; runners. Runners breathe much more heavily than pedestrians and therefore flood their lungs with pollutants. But runners can escape this and Tenzing are keen to guide people as to how.
Tenzing has teamed up with King’s College London to develop a tool which will help Londoners search for ‘clean’ runs, create their own route and offer challenges to find the cleanest routes in London. Combining both data from King’s College London and Tenzing on where the most polluted areas are and where people run, the Clean Air Tool has today been born, and will be available to use on mobiles.This will show people that by taking back streets and parks, runners can cut their exposure by around 50% compared to main roads.
To cement Tenzing’s Clean air mission to the London running scene, they have also recently launched their Clean Air Run, where like-minded health-conscious casual runners can attend weekly Clean Air runs in the city alongside the Tenzing team.
Huib van Bockel, founder of Tenzing, said: “We started Tenzing Natural Energy to offer people a natural alternative in a market dominated by synthetic energy drinks. What applies to the food and drinks we consume, also applies for the air we breathe. As keen runners ourselves we were shocked to find out the appalling air quality we run in in London. Now with our new tech based on King’s College’s data we can help find runners the cleanest air routes to go for a run.”
Andrew Grieve, researcher at King’s College London, said: “Every day I see people out for their lunchtime jog, running along some of the capital’s most polluted roads. Running is great for health, but it’s even better on low pollution routes. By partnering with Tenzing I hope that we can help the London running community dodge air pollution and find that clean air run.
Find out more about the Clean Air tool here: https://tenzingnaturalenergy.com/.
*around 40,000 deaths are attributable to exposure to outdoor air pollution which plays a role in many of the major health challenges of our day. In the UK, these costs add up to more than £20 billion every year. RCPCH; https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution
