On the opening day to the Beyond Sport Summit 2012, a group of summit delegates took part in the Thames21 Blue Mile site visit and canoed a mile up the Lee Navigation Canal leading up to the Olympic Village, cleaning up the waterway as they went.
On a beautiful summers afternoon with the buzz of the London Olympics clear to see all around, this was a great opportunity for delegates attending the Beyond Sport Summit to get out on the water and enjoy a sporting activity, whilst sharing information and giving something back to the environment in the process.
Jill Savery, site visit leader for the Thames21 Blue Mile and former Olympic synchronised swimmer commented: “This was a thoroughly enjoyable way to combine sport with a environmental protection activity.
“The Ecover Blue Mile is an engaging way to learn first hand the impact man is having on our rivers and seas”.
In total, the delegates who took part in the Thames21 Blue Mile, collected nine full bin bags of rubbish from the littered waterway, improving the health of the canal for others to enjoy.
Conrad Humphreys, founding Ambassador of the Blue Project and host of the Thames21 Blue Mile comments: “It was a great buzz to be cleaning up a stretch of water so close to the Olympic village.
“If we present the mass ifs difficult to act. We need to give people something that they can really feel. This is one of key learning points that delegates have taken away from participating in the Thames21 Blue Mile today”.
For more information about the Beyond Sport Summit, please go to www.beyondsport.org and to enter the Ecover Blue Mile, please go to www.thebluemile.org.
