To me, trail running has always been two things, the wild, magical moments I have when out running through landscapes and the people that are quietly making the trail running industry better; for the planet, for your wallet, for each and every one of us and in all manner of ways.
If you're new here, we're For The Trail and we're looking at ways we can make trail running more sustainable. We do that in a myriad of ways and this article series is just one of them.
Lighter footprints is a celebration of those people in trail running sustainability. I'll release one of these each month, this is the August 2026 edition. How it works is pretty simple, if I come across some sustainable news to share that relates to people doing what they can for the trail, we'll put them all together and share it as far and wide as we can with our audience.
If you come across some awesome sustainability idea in trail running, send us a suggestion.
Making Trainers Last Longer
First I would love to introduce you to Trainer Drainer and Paul who is the one working behind this new concept and product that does a couple of cool things and you can see them below.
Paul is a fell runner from Sheffield and he invented the Trainer Drainer, the eco shoe dryer for trail runners.
I made the Trainer Drainer to turn post-run cleaning into a simple habit.
Clean shoes last longer, smell fresher,
and make the next run easier.
Run. Rinse. Repeat.
It's as simple as rinsing off your trainers when you get in, then hanging them on the trainer drainer to dry. So when you go for your next run, your trainers aren't covered in dirt, grit, mud and other things that wear your trainers uppers down more quickly. Instead, they're nice and clean, dry and should last longer.
I absolutely love this, a simple idea that can make your trainers last longer, and there is nothing more we love than durability at For The Trail!
Fixing Outdoor Clothing
Next, i'd love to introduce you to Katy, she runs Upcycle Kit. You can see below exactly what Katy is trying to do.
Passionate about saving outdoor kit from landfill- by supporting the outdoor community to try DIY repairing
Repairing rather than replacing is such a powerful approach and one we should all be considering when our sports and hobbies are based on nature.
I've always been interested in fixing my own gear and have repaired a couple of puffer jackets this year which had a couple of small holes in them and the filling was coming out. It didn't take me that long to fix them and i'm super proud of wearing those jackets now as I know i've helped them last longer.
Katy wants to help you repair your own gear and help them last longer too, thats such a powerful thing, make sure to check out her guides and work below.
Ultra Marathon Races Removing Single-Use Packaging
This is one of the best bits of news in regards to ultra-marathon aid stations i'd ever heard about.
UK Ultra are an ultra-marathon race company based in southern England and this year they are cutting down their single-use plastic packaging that is offered at their aid stations and checkpoints with foods and transitioning to bulk fuel options.
If you aren't aware of what an aid station is, trail and ultra-marathon races have them along their routes every few kilometer and they provide you with food and drink and other help to get you through your race. More often than not, you'll find ultra-marathons with aid stations that have amazing food and drink offerings but a lot of their foods are wrapped in single-use plastic packaging.
We banned the single-use cups well over a decade ago and have written in detail about that, UK Ultra are now taking the next step and questioning if all this single-use plastic packaging is needed in our sport and hobby of ultramarathons.
You can check out their sustainability page here, it really is inspiring! https://www.ukultra.co.uk/sustainability and more info about their specific aid station changes below.
We are always trying to make our events more sustainable and better for the environment. We are certainly not perfect but always looking for ways to improve.
One thing we have overlooked for far too long is that of single packaged energy gels. We have used these at our events since the start as they are popular with the runners however, going forward we have decided to completely remove these from all our events.
We really want to celebrate that, it's such a great idea and couldn't be more excited to see this step taken in the world of trail and ultra.
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