Green Athletes, Green Earth

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Humans aren’t fueled by gasoline or carbon, so it would seem redundant to make road races, triathlons and open-water swims eco-friendly. After all, what more can be done? Athletes For a Fit Planet is hard at work to determine just that. 

The recently formed company is designed to provide environmentally responsible alternatives for race organizers throughout the United States.

The company, founded by Holliston, Mass. native Bruce Rayner earlier this year, has  already established partnerships with  major race groups including the Connecticut-based EndureIT Multisports, whose 8th Annual Lake Waramaug Sprint Triathlon is set to take place on June 20 in Warren, Conn, and Portland Maine’s Tri-Maine.

“FitPlanet is filling an important niche that will be critical to the continued success of mass-participatory events,” says Tri-Maine founder Will Thomas. “Race directors, like myself, are seeing a growing demand for environmental consciousness from athletes, municipalities and communities.”

Through his initial research, Rayner found environmental responsibility is often an afterthought for race directors. “Last year it dawned on me that there were very few races doing anything along the lines of recycling or reducing paper consumption,” Rayner says. “I wanted to help and work with race organizers to produce green events.”

Rayner launched the website  www.afitplanet.com in March and has since traveled to multiple races across the United States to promote his start-up company. Interested parties can sign a FitPlanet EcoPledge pledge to join.

The pledge asks athletes and race organizers to make a commitment to reduce waste at competitions. One example of how race directors can save includes using compostable drink cups as opposed to paper cups that often end up in landfills. As a result of races each year, millions of cups get discarded. FitPlanet members are also asked to post upcoming races on the website to coordinate carpools to and from races.

“We’re looking to access databases that race directors can use,” Rayner says. “We’ll provide services through a directory for athletes. They can look and see what races in their regions are doing environmentally responsible things.” Rayner’s hope is that athletes may soon strictly choose to race in events that are approved by FitPlanet. Those races, however, may come with the stipulation of an increased entry fee.

“While carbon-neutral races are a great goal, there are many hurdles to getting there—financial being the biggest,” says Thomas. “Since most of our races utilize the outdoors, we would be foolish to ignore the need to reduce our carbon footprints. However, the business of event management relies on the careful control of cash flow and companies are sensitive to the increased costs.”

Through surveys distributed at races and on the website, Rayner has found the majority of athletes are willing to pay higher entry fees to help protect the environment. The organization is working to produce a formula that would allow athletes to compensate for their use of carbon emissions by paying for carbon credits, which are used to fund research for wind and solar energy.

“We’re not reducing waste in that instance—just compensating for it,” Rayner says. “Half the people we surveyed fly to at least one race a year. I think the chance for athletes to help race directors—it might be a few extra bucks—shows they would embrace the idea of environmental responsibility.”

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