Build Strava routes that give you an air quality score for your runs around the capital
During its first ever Clean Air Run event on Thursday 5 July, Tenzing unveiled a new tool to help runners find less polluted running routes in London.
Created in partnership with King’s College London, the web app combines data from King’s College London and Tenzing on where the most polluted areas are in the city. Using Strava to plot routes, that data then gives a rating for the air quality out of 100%.
The app is designed to work alongside the Clean Air Run, a series of weekly runs held by Tenzing where runners venture from the urban areas of London out into the cleaner air of the surrounding parks – something which can be shown when the routes are mapped via the tool.
According to Tenzing, “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 believe that by using the app, runners can cut their exposure by around 50% compared to when using main roads.
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 by heading to tenzingnaturalenergy.com on a mobile device.
* 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
