At Acorn Trails, we love trees! Well that’s where acorns come from right?!  We love running through the trees, the smells, the fresh air and every season offering a new and spectacular feast for the eyes. Really, what’s not to love?! And that’s before you get into the technical stuff and discover really just how amazing trees are and how much we need them.

We want to do our bit.

Alex developed and launched the concept of Tee or Tree in early 2020, giving runners the option to plant a tree as an alternative, or addition to the old faithful race t-shirt.  We understand, and agree, that race t-shirts have their place. A memento of an achievement. A memory of a brilliant event.  Something to show off at run club.  We still love them too! Its the unwanted ones that we want to offset.  The ones that get stuffed in the back of the drawer. Or worse, binned and sent to landfill.

That’s why, at Acorn Trails, we will always give the option to add a t-shirt as an extra instead of giving them to everyone.  If you decide you don’t want one, you can choose to plant a tree in our grove for around the same price as a t-shirt instead. Or why not do both?  These trees will be added to the Acorn Trails’ grove and in turn will help to re-wild the Scottish Highlands with native species.

Rothiemurchus Forest (Credit: Scotland: The Big Picture @ScotlandTBP)

The last year has not been an average year of running or events; by anyone’s standards.  Runners are awesome though and we have still managed to plant over 200 trees in our grove.

Running forward, we are committed to continuing to encourage sustainability.  Every race organised by Acorn Trails will offer the Tee or Tree option.  Every tree purchased will result in a donation to Trees for Life, and a new tree will be planted within 12 months.

Acorn Trails also hope at some point in the future to provide trail runs and volunteer opportunities around the rewilding works.

Here a little more about the outstanding work of  Trees For Life

Trees For Life are a conservation charity dedicated to rewilding the Scottish Highlands. They have established 44 tree planting sites and planted nearly two million trees.
The Story So Far
Major Projects
–East West Wild
–Caledonian Pinewood Recovery
–Red Squirrel Reintroduction

• In the UK alone, 300,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill each year.
• Race t-shirts are the equivalent of 8 or 9 plastic bottles.
• In the average UK household nearly a third of clothes haven’t been worn in the last year. That’s over £1000 per household, £30 billion of unused clothes in the UK.
• 60% of runners have 10+ race tshirts

Source: ReRun Clothing

Read more about Acorn Trails aims to be more sustainable in our We Care section