Recycle your running shoes

Depending on your running style and the exact type of shoe you use your running shoes should last you between 350-500 miles or 12 months. But before you decide to either throw them in the bin, or take a trip to a shoe recycling centre, it might be worth considering if other runners could get some extra mileage from them. The Shoe4Africa scheme was started back in 1995 and has been very successful in helping budding young African athletes with footwear and equipment. It now supports training camps and scholarships, while continuing its core programme of collecting and distributing donated shoes. It has also produced some fantastic success stories, such as Francis Robert Naali who received donated shoes as a youngster and went on to become World Half-Marathon champion in 2005.