Europe Triathlon

We came, we raced, we conquered

And … then we tidied up afterwards

So many of our events take place in areas of outstanding natural beauty. We really a lucky to have event organisers who have the vision to identify stunning locations for events, or to have the ability to think outside the box and take a city-centre venue but to then turn it around and make it a real opportunity for the city to showcase itself.

But … isn’t there always a “but”, our events can have a massive impact on the environment and whilst in the distant past there might have been less understanding about how to lessen that impact, we as a sport have been more and more attuned to our own individual and collective responsibility to ensure that our events have as limited an impact on the environment as possible.

Within the ITU Competition Rules, there is control on littering and ITU has made clear its commitment.

2020 has seen medals won at three major events before the lockdown; First up was the ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships, hosted by the FITRI - Federazione Italiana Triathlon working successfully again with Triathlon 7c.

In November 2018, the region was hit by a tornado that destroyed 500,000 trees and devastated the region.

Despite the massive destruction, the event went ahead and this year, as the region was still recovering from the environmental impact, the LOC used trees that had been flattened to produce rather special finisher medals.

The athletes were delighted with these unique mementoes; tangible evidence of the LOCs many steps to reducing the impact of the event on the environment.

A short time later came the ETU Winter Triathlon Championships, held in Romania. The venue was Cheile Grădiștei, high up in the mountains above Brașov. The Federation, Triatlon Romania, used the same infrastructure that they have for all of their events, carefully adapting it to the race. The location was an area of outstanding natural beauty and the impact upon the venue was minimal and in line with the regional requirement for sustainability.

Our most recent event was the ETU Punta Umbría European Duathlon Championships, hosted by the Federación Española de Triatlón. It was a fine display of commitment to the Goals of Sustainable development that have been established by the UN within the Sustainable Development Goals program.

Among the main points is the commitment to donate the unused products from the different aid stations, recovery areas and opening and closing ceremonies to a charity.

We are increasingly looking more closely at unnecessary waste and for this year’s Duathlon Championships, the water that was given to athletes, volunteers, organisation personnel, officials and technical officials was supplied by “Only Water”, which worked closely with the NGO Pozos sin Fronteras.

The LOC used water suppliers who provided bottles made of recycled cardboard and relied upon local products for the recovery area, reducing pressure on supply chains and promoting local produce. Additionally, sporting activities were promoted in local schools and in society to encourage health and well-being.

Triathlon and multisport, as promoted by ETU has, since the very start, had a clear focus on equality. Some other sports might favour paying greater sums of prize-money to men than to women but not in our sport. Some other sports might favour showcasing men’s races to the detriment of women’s races but not in our sport. Triathlon and multisport, as promoted by ETU has provided racing opportunities to all age-groups and to a whole range of athletes who can now see a clear pathway to recognition as para-athletes.

Punta Umbría’s races just like each and every one of ETU’s many events were governed by that fundamental principle of Equality, where men and women compete under the same conditions and share the same amount of prize money and with age-group and para waves for all.

We all recognise the benefits of using a bicycle; a perfect example of sustainable mobility and by promoting duathlon, the organisers were able to bring greater attention to the importance of encouraging the use of bikes among the youngest.

The final area of focus under the UN Program was the partnership between the LOC and the various local institutions; Diputación de Huelva, Town Councils of Punta Umbría and Huelva, Junta de Andalucía and both the Spanish and Andalusian Triathlon Federations, which together combined to create an environment where sport and tourism combined together in harmony.

Sustainability

• How did they do it?
• Was it easy to do or was it a big challenge?
• What tips do event organisers have for other LOCs?
• What is the benefit for the environment and for the LOC?
• Is it just about “green issues”, or is there a tangible financial benefit?
• Where do we as a sport go from here?

All of the points above form part of an agenda for future ETU Event Organiser Seminars.

As soon as we are able to plan ahead for the next gathering, we will let you know but, in the meantime, please send in any ideas you have that might make our sport even more friendly to the environment and even more sustainable.

Send your suggestions to ETU HQ etu_hq@etu.triathlon.org