The ultra-sprint orienteering team in action
Organisers of one of the country’s biggest outdoors festivals are aiming to make it one of the greenest.
Cliffhanger kicks off in Sheffield this weekend, and this year’s event will feature high-adrenaline activities such as parkour and climbing, as well as more sedate pastimes like bowling and angling.
Matt Heason, the man behind Cliffhanger, has commissioned an environmental audit in an attempt to limit the effect of the festival on the great outdoors.
He said: “We’re delighted that more people come to Cliffhanger every year to be inspired and have a go at a huge range of adventure sports and family friendly activities.
“But we’re conscious that the shoe-size of our carbon footprint is growing too. We already provide a free park-and-ride bus service, and encourage people to walk or come by bike but we know there’s lots more we can do. So by holding this review and pledging to reduce our impact on the environment we hope we’ll also inspire our visitors to think about how they can do the same.”
Louise Hawson of Sustainable Balance, which is carrying out the audit, said: “For us sustainability is all about building a vibrant economy, society and environment, creating a better world for us and for the next generation.
“For Cliffhanger, that means understanding the event’s impacts on the environment, the community and the local economy.
“We’ll look at how Cliffhanger can cut waste, prevent pollution and use its resources more wisely. We’ll measure how much energy the event uses and see if there’s scope for solar, wind or water power.
“We’ll see how much rubbish is produced and ask if Cliffhanger could be a ‘zero-waste to landfill’ event. And we’ll see if Cliffhanger can link up with other organisations and businesses in the city.”
The festival takes place at Millhouses Park in Sheffield over Saturday and Sunday. Matt Heason said: “Cliffhanger’s renowned for playing host to some of the world’s very best climbers with the penultimate round of the Bouldering World Cup.
“But it’s not all about climbing; in fact with more than 20,000 visitors last year we reckon the festival is the UK’s biggest outdoors event for outdoors people.
“We have everything from extreme sports like climbing, stunt-mountain biking and parkour free-running to more traditional sports like bowling, angling and archery.
“New to Cliffhanger this year are hard-court bike polo and the mountain bike pump track as well as the UK’s first ever ultra-sprint orienteering race run in a specially built labyrinth.”
More details are on the Cliffhanger website.
