Guidance on Toileting at Events

Introduction

Thoughtless defecating in the wilderness risks contaminating water sources and is disgusting. It falls well short of the ‘Leave No Trace’ principles we should all adopt when enjoying any outdoor recreation in the mountains and countryside. Whilst it is easy to assume that participants at our events will know ‘How to Shit in the Woods’ (check out the classic book on the subject), we are publishing this Guidance Article so that good practice is shared and that our expectations of participants are clearly understood.  

Please take a few minutes to read this article and note that our Universal Rules (rule 18) make this ‘guidance’ mandatory!

Rationale

One of the principal attractions of our expedition race events is the journey through the wilderness and mountain areas of the UK. Many of these areas are spectacular and rarely visited, and the onus is on us (participants and event organisers) to ensure that we do not damage this environment and that we always adopt the Leave No Trace principles to the access we enjoy. Nobody wants to see soiled toilet paper on the side of the trail, or worse, a pile of human faeces. This advice extends to both urination and defecation in the outdoors. Our priorities are:

1)     Prevent the contamination of water sources.

2)    Leave No Trace.

3)    Encourage decomposition.

4)   Minimise the risk of exposure.

How we can help as Organisers

We recognise that we have an important role as the organisers of events taking place in these environmentally sensitive areas. This is our commitment to combat this:

1)     We provide this Guidance Article.

2)    There will always be portable toilets at our Overnight Camps and Event Centres.

3)    When a mass start occurs, we ensure that there are adequate facilities for a large number of participants to go to the toilet in a short period of time.

4)   When practical, we provide portable toilets at Support Points along the route.

5)    We will mark public toilets on the race maps.

6)    Where practical, we will make arrangements with private toilet facilities (such as café and pubs) along the route for these facilities to be available to participants. We will mark these facilities on the race maps where an arrangement has been made.

Practical Advice for Participants 

Go Before You Go

The best possible starting point is to GO BEFORE YOU GO. From a practical point of view, participants sometimes make a false economy by thinking that rushing away from the Overnight Camp in the morning saves them time, whereas needing to defecate on the trail later in the morning is inevitably more time-consuming than using the portable toilet facilities earlier.

Wait

If practical, it is better to wait until you reach the next toilet facilities along the route. 

Urination

·      At least 30m away from streams and rivers

·      Do not urinate directly into small bodies of water such as ponds and pools.

·      In alpine-like areas (rocky with sparse vegetation), it is best to urinate onto rocks rather than the soil or vegetation, as animals are attracted to the salt in urine and may dig up fragile vegetation.

Defecation

The gold standard is to pack out any human waste and there are some fantastic initiatives such as the Cairngorm Snow White Project run by the Cairngorm National Park ranger service to encourage winter expeditions to carry out all human waste.

Hikers would be expected to carry a small trowel to dig a ‘cat hole’ so that human waste is easily buried. We recognise that carrying out waste or carrying a trowel, is impractical for an ultra-runner and therefore our advice is to go: 

·      At least 50m away from streams and rivers.

·      At least 50m away from the trail.

·      Look for soft, organic earth that will enable more rapid decomposition.

·      Use your heel to kick, or a rock to dig, out a hole in the ground at least 15cm wide and 15cm deep.

·      Defecate next to the hole and throw used toilet paper into the hole first. Ideally, now burn it.

·      Use a stick or rock to shovel the faeces into the hole.

·      Refill the hole with the soil removed earlier.

·      Place rocks, sticks or other dead organic matter over the top of the hole to both disguise the location and discourage animals from digging.

What participants must NEVER do:

·      Defecate anywhere near dwellings, buildings, barns or bothies.

·      Defecate in private grounds such as gardens.

·      Leave faeces unburied.

·      Bury wet wipes and/or used sanitary products.

Modesty

Anyone needing to go to the toilet during the event must make all reasonable endeavours not to expose themselves to other participants. In particular, for male runners, just stepping off the trail when there are other participants in close proximity is not acceptable. 

Sanitary Products

Used Sanitary products should not be buried and the optimal action is for these items to be placed in a plastic bag and disposed of at the next toilet facilities.

Hand Sanitiser

We highly recommend that each participant carries a small hand sanitiser to ensure that their hands are clean after going to the loo. This minimises the risk of Gastroenteritis which causes diarrhoea and vomiting and has ended some participants’ events.