no more cups on the run course, going green (Page 3)

Yay!!  Glad to hear this!!

The only races I've taken cups at aid stations were the 5430 tri series because they composted their used cups.  I always carry my own container and refill at the aid stations from the big thermoses.  The waste from races is unnecessary.

Next steps are solar power for the timers and PA system and recycle gu wrappers and old innertubes -- also incorporated by the 5430 folks.  They also washed and reused water bottles from the bike aid stations -- the last race of the series they gave them away & recycled the remainder.  I think they had a zero waste result last year.  Even the venders were required to use compostable cups if they sold drinks.  Ironman bought them last year and I heard they agreed to continue the zero waste tradition.

If I were looking at a race, and it had this implemented, I would have serious doubts about signing up.

I see a number of issues surrounding the logistics alone of getting them issued. What happens if someone forgets theirs? What if it gets dropped or broken? There have to be alternatives.

I personally would hate to have to stop like that. I don't walk aid stations now, and this method would definitely affect my racing.

This sounds like a solution in search of a problem.  My bet is that they find one.

Same.

If you go HERE and click where it says to. Go to page 10 and there it is


EDIT - The above link is for the full race. The 70.3 race program does not have anything about HydraPouch that I could find.

Edited by epredl 2010-07-12 3:13 PM

 well said... 

  I like that phrase, I'll be stealing that in the near future. Just tell me where to mail the residual checks

ERRRRGGGHH!

Totally not impressed.

I'd far, far, far rather save the planet on the other 364 days of the year, and waste a bit of paper on the 1 day that I'm trying to run a marathon after cycling 112 miles.

Anyone know anything about these hydropouches?  The website doesn't give any measurements.

It's likely NOT a WTC race decision, it's the folks who run the Vineman Full. The WTC run Vineman 70.3 and I don't see them doing anything like this here as well at any other full or half WTC race.

This is green washing not green a green product.  It was probably invented by someone who hates running while drinking out of a cup and figured they would latch onto the environmental movement.  A lot more energy and material go into making one of those pouches then the number of cups a runner will use in an event.  So unless a runner were to get one pouch and use it for many events/years the environmental impact of the pouch is larger then the single use cups it will replace.  Then as another poster added you have to factor in the increased number of water coolers and their transportation.

Edited by Lurch 2010-07-12 7:14 PM

I tend to agree, but on the water transportation issue, there's likely little difference... the water has to be transported to the aid stations either way - it's just a matter of whether it's transported in Hydrapouch quick pour water coolers, standard water coolers, or plastic jugs....

I'm not saying you will need more water.  I am saying you will need more coolers so more people can fill their pouches simultaneously.  Coolers are large and take a lot of room in vans which will now need to make more trips to and from storage which will use more gas.  You will also need to buy more coolers which take a lot of energy to manufacture etc.  You can go blind trying to track your decision cradle to grave to see which is truly green but this one looks pretty easy.   
 

x2...the full is an independant race, the 70.3 is not. I can't see IM going for this.

As for re-using it, I see people who are the non-consentual guinea pigs for this just being po'd and throwing the things away.

And are these folks supposed to stick everything in it-gatorade, chicken broth, cola....mmmm just what I'd want deep in an IM mary, to have chicken broth residue around the edges of my cola.

geez, next they will be handing you a pouch to pee in instead of having porta potties.



Edited by LittleCat 2010-07-12 8:31 PM

Is this the Al Gore Tri?  j/k

I'm sorry, but like many others I see this as a problem more than anything.  I'm not "super" into recycling much.  I mean I bring my glass and cans to base for recycling, but that's just because it wont burn in my trash pit.

I officiated an ITU race this weekend and one of the officials was telling me about many of the European races using "water bags"  - ziploc type bags filled with water with a pull stop at a corner.  You pull the corner off and you have a little stream of water that you can pour into your mouth as you run.  The good thing was the bag doesn't get blown around in the wind after it gets discarded and they can easily be swept up.
My guess is that somebody else heard about this, but the bag product was already available, so they decided to go a step further and make a "green" product - which this isn't - to try and make some cash.  It sounds like a nice idea in principle that is not at all practical.  I keep thinking of the guy that picks up his packet on Friday and forgets to bring his pouch on race day.  Is he going to do a marathon without any water?  People forget their swim caps all of the time. 

IM does do the green thing in Boulder for the series they bought last year.  At least they said they would -- I'm not doing the series this year so can't say for sure.  But they use compostable cups and another company takes care of the composting, along with all the food waste.