The third triathlon in the RF Events T-Rex series kicked off on a beautiful evening in the Island Lake Recreation Area.

While attendance was nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, total waste dropped to its lowest ever – under 100 pounds! Contributing factors include optional, order-ahead T-shirts (reducing packaging), lighter medals with no inner plastic wrapping (and now sourced locally), and serving post-race sandwiches on napkins instead of plates.

The new model of just two waste stations – one by the parking lot and one in the finish area – continues to work well. “All waste” pails in transition replace full stations there. We also removed a recycle bin near the medals area, using only a bag for collecting plastic wrap from ice bags and bottle case wrap. There was only mild contamination. The only glitch was a lot of takedown as it was getting dark. For the August T-Rex, we may consider earlier takedown of the pavilions and some tables.