The biggest sporting celebration of climate action and nature ever attempted across Britain will be coming to Cardiff this July. To date over 1000 people have signed up for the 366 stage 2,661km long Running Out of Time Climate Relay taking place between June 10 and July 11 where runners, walkers, wheelers and cyclists will carry the baton from Ben Nevis to Big Ben. Along the way, it will be carried by ordinary people between towns and cities to highlight inspiring community climate action.
On July 3 runners will carry the baton from the Senedd in Cardiff Bay to Railway Gardens in Splott, where there will be an evening showcasing local environmental projects from across the city and opportunities for people to get involved. “The idea is to really focus on the things that people are doing hyper-locally in the street and their community, it's less about the big policy actions and more about what we can do when we get together,” said Hannah Garcia, director of Green Squirrel, the social enterprise behind Railway Gardens.
“It's a chance to highlight community climate action across the whole country and show that ordinary people are doing really inventive and exciting things to protect against climate change, reduce its impacts and improve community resilience at the same time.”
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Welsh artist and climate activist Ophelia Dos Santos will kick-off the evening and will be joined by Climate Cymru, Green Peace, community pantries and gardening groups who will all be coming along to share their knowledge. Once it leaves Railway Gardens, the baton will be cycled to Tredegar House in Newport and from there to Chepstow where it will continue its epic journey to London.
Railway Gardens itself is a climate-resilient hub that opened one year ago in Splott on a patch of formerly derelict ground beside the mainline to London. Since its opening in February 2022, it has engaged over 4,000 people with wellbeing, climate, nature, and community activities.
“We've got so many community resilience projects going on and we're inviting lots of other Cardiff-based organisations to join us. To date we've got a library of things where people can borrow commonly-used items instead of having to buy them so we're reducing the amount of consumption and waste going into landfills,” said Hannah.
“We also have a bike workshop, a community garden, sustainability workshops for adults, plant exchange, and a community seed library and wildlife areas so there's lots going on down here for people to get involved with."
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