Local running event channels donations to buy Ogden air monitors and publish live data

Organizers of the Running Up for Air endurance event and sustainability staff described a new local partnership on March 10 to use race proceeds for air‑quality monitoring in Ogden.

Volunteer organizer Tara Warren said the community‑run event has raised roughly $10,000–$15,000 in recent years and that for the first time organizers decided to route funds locally. ‘‘Every single dime that we raise go to a charity to help increase awareness and legislation for clean air initiatives in our area,’’ she said.

Lorenzo, representing Weber State and Ogden sustainability efforts, said the partners selected compact monitors from a Utah‑based vendor, Telis, that balance affordability and research accuracy to monitor PM2.5 and PM10. Staff described installing four monitors purchased with last year’s funds in the coming weeks and using this year’s expected proceeds (~$13,300 in 2025, about $15,000 expected this year) to expand coverage. The resulting network will be publicly accessible through an online map that will show current particulate concentrations, wind vectors and other context.

Lorenzo said the initiative aims first to ‘‘fill in gaps’’ in Ogden’s current PM10 monitoring network and later to use localized data to identify problem places and inform mitigation measures.

What happens next: staff will install the initial monitors in the next few weeks, publish the live map for public use and return to council with updates as the network expands.