As more than a record 25,000 runners took to the streets for the 2025 BMO Vancouver Marathon, one local resident found himself dealing with some of the mess left behind.
“BMO Vancouver Marathon, where do I send the invoice?” wrote Vancouver resident Kristians Kārkliņš in a video posted to Instagram Tuesday, which has since racked up more than 100,000 views. The video shows him collecting hundreds of discarded gel packets, wrappers and bottles along the Stanley Park Seawall—hours after the marathon ended.
Kārkliņš says he went for a walk on Sunday evening and was shocked by the amount of race-day rubbish still scattered across rocks, beaches, and even floating in the ocean. When he returned the next day and found it untouched, he decided to take action himself.
“I picked up more than 500 gel packets—most of them still sticky with residue,” he said. “Why wasn’t there a same-day cleanup? Whether it’s the city or the race organizers, someone should be responsible.”
Originally from Latvia, Kārkliņš moved to Vancouver in November 2024 and often walks the 9.5-kilometre Seawall loop in Stanley Park. He spent over four hours collecting litter from what’s considered a protected sanctuary in the city.
“Is it mandatory for marathon runners to toss gel packets on the ground?” he asked. “Is littering part of the sport now?”
Even some participants expressed outrage at the aftermath. “I assumed there would be a cleanup crew behind us,” one runner commented. “With the number of gels I saw dropped, it seemed obvious.”
Another marathoner, who asked to remain anonymous, admitted he never gave it much thought: “I figured it was the race or sponsor’s job to handle cleanup.”
Under B.C.’s Environmental Management Act, littering in Stanley Park is illegal and can carry fines of up to $2,000. The Stanley Park Ecology Society also enforces strict rules to protect the park’s natural environment.
Kārkliņš noted that the majority of discarded gels he picked up were from major brands like Gu, Maurten and Honey Stinger.
“As runners, we should be doing better,” Kārkliņš said. “And the race directors should have a sweep crew behind the last participants to clean up the mess.”
Canadian Running reached out to RunVan, the race’s organizing body, which asked runners to do better in a statement: “Participants may discard waste at one of the 200 bins on course, including at each aid station and every kilometre mark of the last 10 km. The event does not offer gels inside Stanley Park and prides itself on a high waste diversion rate. The cleanup crew went out to assist with extra areas identified post-race, with many items collected not offered by the event. We still call out to the entire running community to do a better job of respecting the environment.”
