Men’s Fitness UK – October 2019

IN FOCUSTENZING CLEAN AIR RUN CLUB

unning is more popular than ever.

Last year, in the UK alone, 240.7

million runs were recorded on

activity tracking app Strava – up

a staggering 46.2 per cent from

the previous year.  e sport is so

popular because it is so accessible:

unlike other equipment and kit-

laden activities, runners need a pair of trainers (some even

forego those) and little else. In its simplest form, there are no

memberships to pay or spaces to book; all worries can be left

at the door.

 at, at least, is the theory. But the free-and-easy nature

of running – particularly in urban areas – is under threat

from a malignant, invisible enemy: pollution. While runners

of the past could enjoy a care-free jog any time, any place,

there are now parts of our cities so polluted that running

through them could actually do more harm than good. In

London, the most densely populated of all, air pollution is

estimated to contribute to 10,000 deaths a year.

But far from accepting this grim new reality, the capital

is leading the charge in the  ght against fumes. Earlier this

year, the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced £6 million would

be invested into 15 pollution-curbing projects, including the

introduction of 250 car-free and pedestrianisation initiatives

across 16 boroughs, as well as programmes to reduce

emissions on the  ames and in the City.

CAPITAL GAINS

For runners, however, there is now a cheaper, more

immediate solution, courtesy of natural energy drink

company Tenzing. Utilising real-time data collected by

the London Air Quality Network (part of the Environmental

Research Group at King’s College London), along with

GPS tracking from Strava, Tenzing’s innovative Clean Air

tool – accessible via a phone app – provides users with an air

quality score for their runs.  ere’s also a feature that allows

you to map runs and check the air quality of your intended

route. Once you’ve logged in through Strava, your score is

automatically uploaded to your account.

“At Tenzing we’re all keen runners,” says the company’s

founder Huib van Bockel. “So when we found out there

are places in London so polluted that it's more harmful

than helpful to run, we wanted to see if we could help.

We worked closely with King's College to map out all of

London's air quality, and tied that data to our own running

R

GET THE TENZING CLEAN

AIR TOOL BY SEARCHING

TENZINGNATURALENERGY.COM

ON YOUR PHONE

Seasoned runner

Alan Li is a Clean

Air convert