If you have a question about the event that is not answered below then please get in touch with the team by emailing [email protected]
Running Out of Time is a 7,767km non-stop relay from Glasgow, Scotland (Host of COP26) to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt (Host of COP27). There are a total of 732 stages, with each stage being around 10km long. The relay runs day and night for 40 days and travels to 18 countries.
Within the relay baton is a climate change message from young people to the decision makers at COP27.
Our goal is for the relay baton to be passed from person-to-person and arrive in Egypt. Most stages will be run and a small number will be cycled. We’ll be sailing The Channel and The Mediterranean.
The impact of climate change on our planet will be felt most by our youth and future generations. Their collective voice needs to be heard. Together, we aim to deliver their message, held within the relay baton, with so much support that it is impossible to ignore.
Along the extraordinary route, the baton will cross seas, mountain ranges, glaciers, and deserts and visit schools, at-risk locations and climate change projects meeting scientists, engineers and designers at the forefront of the green revolution to better understand what is happening to our planet and to inspire local climate action.
The relay starts in Glasgow on Friday 30th September and will finish in Sharm El-Sheikh on Tuesday 8th November.
You must be over the age of 18 to sign-up to our relay and be able maintain an average pace of 6 minutes 15 seconds per kilometre / 10 minutes per mile for the duration of a stage.
If you are under the age of 18 and would like to run a stage, then please ask your parent/legal guardian to contact us at [email protected] and we will see if this can be accommodated.
We also have a Schools Action Day taking place on November 3rd, which is open to schools around the world, and a Virtual Relay Day on November 5th.
Click on the icon in the top right corner of your screen (you'll need to close FAQs) first. On the main image you should see an 'Update my photo' button in the bottom right corner of the image. Press that link and update your photo using one from your phone's library or snap a new selfie.
The Global Schools Action Day is a day of climate action that any school, anywhere, can join. We are asking students, and their teachers, to get active for 15 minutes (or more) and share their activities with us. This can be done at any time of the day, in any way you like – the more creative the better!
The Global Schools Action Day is on the 3rd of November this year – but don’t worry if you can’t make this date, you can take part on any day that works for you.
School participation is free and there are plenty of ways to get involved – simply register your school’s interest and we’ll send you everything you need. As a registered school you’ll receive a comprehensive toolkit to allow your students to:
+ Track the Relay
You’ll be able to follow the relay on its journey, and find out more about the places and exciting projects it visits along the way.
+ Support the Message on Climate Action
You’ll receive engaging classroom resources to allow students to discuss, vote on, and support the message we take to COP27.
+ Join the Schools Action Day
On 3rd November* join thousands of schools across the world for our Schools Action Day. We’re asking everyone in all schools to get active for 15 minutes (or more) for a day of, truly global, climate action.
Run, walk, bounce or roll…… we don’t mind how you do it - it’s the taking part that counts!
*If you can’t make this date don’t worry, you can take part on any day that works for you.
The relay is only open for those over 18, so they would not be able to run in the relay (teachers are very welcome though).
You can always hold your own relay event on the Schools Action Day - don’t forget to share your activities with us.
Check out the relay route – if your school is located along the route, we’d love for your students to come cheer our runners on. Please contact Lauren, our schools coordinator, at [email protected] and she can let you know the date and time the relay will reach you.
To sign your school up for the Schools Action Day, simply fill out the registration form here.
All you need is your name, your school’s name, and a contact email address. We’ll also ask the number of pupils you think will be taking part – don’t worry if you don’t know have the final number yet, you can just put an approximation (i.e., if it’s a class, a year group or the whole school).
Once registered, you’ll receive a welcome email with the link to our Schools Info Pack. This is an introduction to Running Out of Time, and a great way to get your school excited about taking part. We’ll be sending you lots of regular updates about the relay, the Schools Action Day, and the Message on Climate Action.
Ahead of the launch date all registered schools will receive a toolkit which will include:
It’s completely free to take part, and we’ll provide you with everything you need to make sure your student’s involvement is easy, successful and (most importantly) fun. There are lots of ways to get involved, and engage your students, and you can choose what suits your school, and its busy timetable, best.
The baton we carry to COP27 will contain a message on Climate Action from young people across the globe to the decision makers at COP27. The message will have the support of over a million young voices by the time it arrives at COP27.
Registered schools will receive classroom resources to allow students to discuss, vote on and show support for this message. It’s an opportunity for your students’ voices to be heard at COP27!
You can download our logo and a range of supporting assets here. Please credit Running Out of Time when using these images. For more pictures, please contact [email protected]
We’re more than happy to provide you with quotes, clips, images and more - just email [email protected]
We’ve pioneered relay running since 2013. We connected thousands of people in the first non-stop mass participation running relay across America, we’ve crossed continents by trainer-power alone and broken world records. If you want to see what we’re capable of, check out One Run Global, One Run for Boston, The London Relay and Project Awesome as examples.
We also have a geeky side too - using cutting edge research to help organisations to increase participation and diversity in sport and organise sell-out events like The Women's Trad Festival.
To arrange an interview with one of the team please contact [email protected] and we’ll set everything up.
To get the latest news, follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Or contact [email protected] and we’ll sign you up to our Weekly Newsletter.
Sure thing! Get in touch with your local paper, radio and TV stations and tell them what you’re doing and why. And, if you’ve got contacts who can help put Running Out of Time on the national news agenda too - terrific! Visit our Press page for a fantastic toolkit you can use.
Absolutely, the more the merrier! Let's make the baton handovers and runs the best experiences ever!
Yes, as a sports event we’re covered and have insurance! But, just like in real life, to take part in Running Out of Time you will have to agree to take responsibility for your actions as per our Waiver. Everyone who takes part in the event must register on our website and agree to the Waiver. No exceptions!
You can find our booking terms in all their glory here! We can’t promise it makes for interesting reading though...
All donations made via the Running Out of Time website will be collected by our charity partner, FEE, using PCI-certified payment provider, Stripe. FEE is responsible for the management and distribution of the funds to the other charity partner(s). Please see here for full details of our Privacy Policy.
As much as we would have loved to make our website available in every language under the sun, we're only a small grassroots organization. If you’re a translation company or tech whizz reading this and want to help out - get in touch!
The cost of entry to the relay is dependent on the country you are running in. The maximum cost will be £15 / €15 but it will be significantly less in many countries. A donation of at least 30% of every sign up will be made to the Running Out of Time charity partners, FEE and Carbon Copy.
Medals are exclusive to participants and cost £5 (€6). Our medals are handmade by Leila in the UK from recycled wood!
There is no compulsory fundraising target but if you are able to do so, we’d love you to raise funds for our charity partners, FEE and Carbon Copy. You can collect donations via your Running Out of Time personal Profile Page.
100% of the money you fundraise from your Profile Page will go straight to our charity partners.
The first runner to sign up for a stage becomes the Lead Runner. The Lead Runner is the person who receives the relay baton from the stage runner before and carries it for the next stage. We encourage Lead Runners to share the baton around during the run. The Lead Runner is our main point of contact for the relay stage, and leads the rest of the runners on the stage on the route run. If you are the first runner to sign-up to a stage but do not want to be the Lead Runner we can swap you with another runner on your stage. Please email [email protected]
On every Stage Details page of our website we have provided a Strava route from your start and end point, which our Operations Team have plotted, however we recommend that you review this route ahead of your run.
Please make sure you are there at least 10 minutes before the start of your stage.
All Lead Runners are responsible for checking that the planned route is suitable. For example, there are no roadworks or construction issues which would change the route.
Please email us at [email protected] if you have any queries or concerns about the stage route.
All of your stage details, including the place name and coordinates for your meeting points, are available on our website, within your Dashboard and in the welcome email we send you. We will also email you these details several times before your relay stage date.
Please bring your mobile phone, drinking water (in a reusable/recyclable bottle), wear suitable clothing and footwear to run your stage, and wear sunscreen if appropriate. If running a night time stage we recommend wearing high-visibility clothing (reflective) and bringing a torch / head torch.
You must notify the organisers immediately by emailing [email protected] with the subject line ‘URGENT: I CANNOT RUN MY STAGE’. If you are the Lead Runner on your stage and no other runners have signed up to join you, please do your best to help find a replacement runner. We regret that no refunds on registration fees can be given.
This is the term we use to describe the location where one relay stage ends and another begins. It is the place that you will meet the runner(s) from the stage before you and the place that you will run towards to meet the relay stage after yours.
It is the joint responsibility of all runners to keep the relay running to time. Please do everything in your power to prevent delays. We’re all relying on you!
You can track the relay’s progress online via our live map. The GPS device within the relay baton will update its location on the map every 15 minutes. Sometimes, GPS can fail and so please still be at your stage on time!
All runners must carry the mobile phone during their run, please ensure this is the same phone number that you provide during registration.
The Running Out of Time support crew will be driving the route in an electric car from Scotland to Egypt, catching up with the relay at various points. They will not be following the relay all the time as they need to sleep! We strongly recommend that you arrange for a friend or family member to support you during your run.
One of the aims of the relay is to highlight the contribution active travel can make in the fight against climate change and we strongly recommend using low/zero carbon methods to get to and from your relay stage. To help with this, wherever possible we’ve plotted the Stage Handovers to be near public transport so that you can get to or from your stage start/end point.
If this is not an option and you are running with others, please consider carpooling. Or even better, if you're lucky enough to have a friend/family member who has an electric car, ask them to give you a lift to and from your stage!
If you cycle to the start of your stage, we may be able to arrange for our support crew to carry your bike so you can cycle home. However, we’d need to arrange this ahead of time by contacting [email protected]
You could also make your relay stage a bigger challenge by running home!
Depending on where you’re running you might like to get in touch with the local police to let them know what you’re going to be up to. They may even be able to provide a vehicle escort if required. Our Operations Team will be contacting police in places where we feel the route is particularly challenging and our Support Crew will be at these stages to provide safety assistance. If you do decide to do this please let [email protected] know via email.
Certain sections of the relay are reserved because they are particularly challenging and require experienced runners or a slightly faster mode of transport such as a bike! We are recruiting these people behind-the-scenes and you will see their names appear on the stage listings soon.
If your initiative takes place in the UK, please go to www.carboncopy.eco and visit the Publish Your Project page to share your story. Here, you will discover a national collection of 1000 innovative and inspiring initiatives, big and small, for people to copy and adapt.
If your initiative takes place in another country, please use our press kits or media support behind local climate action to promote your project.