Green Triathlons

Triathlons are one of the greenest sports there are and the 2010 season is right around the corner. The swimming, biking, and running are all low impact sports on the environment. Even the infamous IRONMAN, a race of endurance (a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike, then a 26.2-mile marathon) is high impact on your body, but low impact on the earth.

Many triathlons are making their way to being even greener, and you can help support the effort. Some of the things you can do to help reduce or eliminate your impact on the environment include:

• Don’t throw the ‘energy bar’ wrappers on the ground during the race, send them to TerraCycle and they’ll donate money to your charity of choice
• Better yet, make your own nutrition bars with locally grown food
• Pick up trash along the route, like the Eco-Runner
• Buy powered sports drink and mix it yourself in a reusable water bottle
• Recycle your retired running shoes with Soles4Souls
• Start your workout rides/runs from your home or office, and ride/run to the pool instead of driving
• Give away your old swim caps as jar opening grips
• When buying your matching cycling and running outfit, purchase goods made from natural fibers.
• In the winter, use your cycling jersey twice before washing it (and make sure to wash laundry in full loads)

Many of the races people are signing up for are also going green. ReSport, the Council for Responsible Sporting, aims to encourage race directors to implement environmentally responsible activities in their race. One race, the Hartford Marathon, had a ‘water bubbler’ which helped rehydrate thousands of runners and avoid the need of 10,000 plastic water bottles!

The effort put in by both the race directors and the athletes has the potential to make a huge difference in the endurance sport world!