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Saving the planet is a team sport: Are you in?
Alice Kendall
13 Oct 2026 • 9 minutes read
Last updated: 29 October, 2026
Last October was a rough month to be a runner.
The Cape Town Marathon got called off 90 minutes before the start because 48 km/h winds were ripping down the tents and signage. A few days later Sydney hit 38°C, about 15 degrees hotter than a normal October day, and the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge was cancelled. Everyone who’d trained for it just didn’t get to run.
I remember reading both stories on my phone and honestly feeling a bit sick. Because this stuff isn’t going away. Climate Central looked at 221 marathons around the world and found 86% of them are expected to have worse odds of good race-day conditions by 2045. And here in Australia, heatwaves already kill more people than floods, bushfires and storms put together. If you run, ride or swim outside (and if you’re reading this, you probably do), we’re right in the firing line.
When you read things like that, it’s really easy to think, what’s the point? I’m one person. What am I actually going to change?
I get it, I’ve had that thought plenty of times. But there’s a line from Ryunosuke Satoro I come back to a lot: “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
How a marathon run turned into a charity
Back in 2019 I was living in London and training for the Edinburgh Marathon. Lots of long runs along the Thames, with Turning the Tide on Plastic audiobook playing in my ears. Somewhere between the endorphins and the exhaustion, I started feeling really anxious about the state of the planet, and like I had to actually do something about it.
I’d always used races to fundraise for causes I cared about. This time I didn’t want money, I wanted action. So I made a really basic form with 16 climate actions on it, sent it round to friends and family, and asked them to pledge one instead of sponsoring me.
My mum went vegan. My dad said he’d swap his motorbike for an electric scooter if I finished (I did, and he did). My uncle, who is pretty much a full-time carnivore, signed up for one meat-free day a week. None of us really knew what we were starting.
I moved to Australia in 2020, kept tinkering with the idea, and in 2021 we ran the very first 48 Hour Mission. That’s Pledge for the Planet. We’re a small environmental charity that uses sport and community to get people moving to protect the places we play, and the whole thing still runs on that same idea from 2019: your action is your currency.
So what is the 48 Hour Mission?
The 48 Hour Mission a weekend-long, club-vs-club competition. Your club runs, walks, rides and swims as far as it can in 48 hours. There’s no entry fee. Instead, everyone makes a pledge, whether that’s finally sorting out a keep cup, washing your kit on cold, riding to work or switching your power to renewables.
Your Strava activities feed straight onto a live leaderboard, and every time you track your pledge you earn points on a second one for impact. So you’re not just competing on kilometres, you’re competing on how much good your club does. And trust me, run clubs get very competitive about both.
Last year 677 people from 40 clubs got involved. Between them, they covered 16,597 km over the weekend (about Sydney to London) and made 3,449 pledges. If everyone sticks to their pledge, that’s roughly 524 tonnes of CO₂e, about the same as taking 114 cars off the road for a year, plus more than 310,000 pieces of waste that never get made.
Don’t just take my word for it
When we asked clubs for honest feedback after last year’s Mission, Paddy from Top Run put it better than I ever could:
“Because giving a sh*t about the planet is cool!”
Jack from the Crusties said,
“It’s genuinely a highlight for a lot of people… It’s such a good, honest, community driven initiative.”
Then there’s Greta and Chris Truscott, who lead Rejoov Runners. They’ve done five 48 Hour Missions with us now, and they’re the kind of people who make you want to do more. Their pledge this year was rooftop solar, and when I dropped round the panels were already up. Their dog Millie fetches rubbish out of the ocean (not even joking). Earlier this year they got their 170-odd members into our Kickstart Mission with the TCS Sydney Marathon, and won the whole thing.
“I feel all of these competitions help us to be more mindful of our day to day pledges, I really love that.” Greta also loves that it’s not just for runners: “I love how people could go really well by the whole range of activities including walk, swim, bike, run, not just running.”
Why we bother
One of our Pledgendary Ambassadors, Nidhi Aggarwal, is a total waste warrior. She composts and worm farms at home, avoids single-use plastic bottles and properly recycles her soft plastics. When we asked for her “why”, she wrote:
“To leave a world where future generations can fully enjoy this beautiful planet. I believe we should strive to leave it better than we found it.”
Same. I want the next lot of kids to still be able to run, swim and ride in the places we love.
Come and join us
This year is our sixth 48 Hour Mission, and it runs from 5pm Friday 13 November to 5pm Sunday 15 November. We’d love to have more clubs involved than ever, especially ones who’ve never heard of us. Run club, swim squad, cycling crew, tri club, gym, whatever you are, if your people move together, you’re in. There are some pretty good prizes up for grabs too, including a few VERY exciting giveaways from our friends at WeRun Foundation and TCS Sydney Marathon that might just get you onto Australia’s most sought after startline… more on that soon.
Club sign-ups are open now, members can jump on from 23 October, and on 25 November we’ll all celebrate together at Plog to Pub, our end-of-season party.
One pledge on its own can feel small. But a few thousand of them, from people who love the same places you do, add up to something pretty special.
Saving the planet is a team sport. Are you in?
👉Learn more about the 48 Hour Mission
👉 Register your club for the 48 Hour Mission
Run clubs committed to the Pledge
440 RUN CLUB
Bronte, NSW
Elevate Running & Fitness
Canberra, ACT
Pledge for the Planet Run Club – Sydney
Sydney, NSW
Running Mums Australia
Road/Trail
Sydney, NSW
Wolli Creek Run Club
Road
Wolli Creek, NSW
Written by Alice Kendall
1 article
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