How to be a TRI eco WARRIOR
After 31 years as the International Triathlon Union, the sport’s governing body rebranded as World Triathlon this autumn. Standing for Swim-Bike-Run, Mind-Body-Soul, Earth-Air-Water, its new logo is represented in a palette of “Transition Blue, Lawn Green and Sky Blue” with “the planet in its soul”. Commenting on the rebrand, president Marisol Casado further stressed how “sustainability” was at triathlon’s core. Sounds promising, right?
Last year, the World Triathlon Series began in the Middle East, flew to North America, then the Far East, on to Europe, back to North America, again to Europe, North America once more, before returning to Europe for the Grand Final. It covered 34,707 miles – equivalent to one-and-a-half times around the planet.
Transportation sits just below industry for global greenhouse gas emissions, but as the saying goes: those in glass houses pedalling carbon-framed bikes, plotting their next world adventure, while reading a copy of this magazine (albeit delivered in paper not plastic, with a digital version available!) shouldn’t throw stones. The point is not to slam World Triathlon, but to point out just how nuanced and hypocritical the discourse around environmental impact of this sport can be.
However, given that there are probably more dinosaurs still roaming this Earth than climate-change deniers, just because booking long-haul to Hawaii makes us queasy, doesn’t mean
