Beer athlete wins eco award after turning down international contest over environmental concerns

A 17-year-old cross-country runner from Beer has been praised for putting her "environmental principles above the start of her international athletics career".

Innes FitzGerald, who has been crowned Young Athlete of the Year at the BBC Green Sport Awards 2023, earlier this year refused to take part in the World Cross Country Championships in Australia due to concerns she had about the impact of flying on the environment.

She said: "I feel like it's a real privilege [to get this award].

"I never set out to achieve awards from this, I just wanted to raise awareness about climate-related issues within the athletics and sporting world - trying to get up-and-coming athletes to think about what they're doing and their impacts on the climate as well.

"It was like, I can go there and I might do really well, but can I justify taking that flight with just doing one race, running for five minutes? Which obviously would mean so much if I was to do really well but the emissions from that flight, it's just so great and at the time I couldn't justify it at all."

The BBC Green Sport Awards celebrate individuals and organisations from around the world who "use their sporting profile to make change towards a more sustainable future".

You can find out more about the awards on the BBC website.