EcoAthletes unites student athletes across North America  

The 2026 EcoAthletes Collegiate Cup Powered by Protect We Play united student athletes across North America in exercise and climate action.

‍Climategames hosted the 2026 EcoAthletes Collegiate Cup Powered by Protect We Play ‍for the fourth time. 

The competition united athletes across North America to convert their exercise into climate impact to help fund coastal clean ups. 

How the event worked 

EcoAthletes student-athlete Champions on 49 campuses motivated their teams to log their running, walking, swimming, cycling, rowing, and gym workouts from March 9 to April 22, Earth Day. 

Captains on campuses from across the USA and Canada inspired their teams to dig deep to win the 2026 EcoAthletes Collegiate Cup.

The results 

Oregon State won the cup after logging 3872 hours of exercise and removing 419 lbs of plastic and trash from coastal waterways.

Professional Stand Up Paddle Champion Tanja Ecker was the individual Champion winning Most Valuable Cupper (MVC). She logged 198.5 hours of exercise, and 100 lbs of plastic and trash was removed on her behalf.

The Collegiate Cup impact

• 1,041 athletes
• 49 schools
• 16,633 hours of exercise with a total distance of 92,468 km or 57,457 miles
• 1 ton of plastic removed from our waterways by Ocean Conservancy and its International Coastal Cleanup partners.

The project details: International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC)

The ICC began more than 35 years ago, when communities rallied together with the common goal of collecting and documenting  the trash littering their coastline.
In partnership with volunteer organizations and individuals around the globe, the ICC engages people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways. 

Since its beginnings in 1986, more than 19 million volunteers have collected more than 400  million pounds of trash.