Men’s Fitness UK – October 2019

platform and that of Strava.  e result is that you can now

map and run the cleanest routes in London – energy that is

good for body, mind and planet.”

Andrew Grieve, one of the lead researchers at King’s

College – who gathered the data that makes the Clean Air

tool tick – explains how it works: “King's [College] runs the

London Air Quality Network, one of the most sophisticated

air pollution networks in the world. As part of this, we run

a real-time air pollution model for London that we call our

‘Nowcast’.  is predicts the concentration of four di erent

types of pollution across the whole of London every hour.

It's this model that the Clean Air running tool runs on (as

it were).”

Grieve also touches on why ‘clean air’ routes should

be a priority for all runners: “We know from studies we've

done that respiratory function can be reduced by walking

along busy roads, as opposed to parks, for example. City

runners are at risk because the ventilation rate for running

is much higher than for walking. One study, that looked at

the cognitive bene ts of running, found a reduction in that

particular bene t if the runner was exposed to pollution.”

CLUBBING TOGETHER

O the back of the app, an entire community of runners,

the Tenzing Clean Air Run Club, has been formed. With a

weekly run every  ursday, the club has groups on Strava

and Facebook for keeping up to date withthe latest news

and routes, and it’s open to all abilities.

Founder Huib van Bockel says the Clean
Air Club refl ects Tenzing's ethos: good
for body, mind and planet

BigSmoke

Solutions

3 low-pollution

routesinLondon

1.HAMPTONCOURTLOOP

2.NORTHLONDONLONGRUN

3.TOWERHAMLETS10K