by event captain Charlie Vaughn
The finale race of the RF Events T-Rex Triathlon series went very similarly to the previous Stegosaurus and Pterodactyl editions earlier this year. Great weather and the canceled Triceratops triathlon likely led to a large turnout of 488 participants for this Wednesday night race. With three staffers (we had originally planned on only having two) Jeff, Connor and I offered plenty of support to handle this event.
We set up the main sorting station near the registration tent again. In addition, we put two All Waste boxes in the transition area which we monitored and switched out several times throughout the night. We set up a satellite station in the post-race gathering and awards area to catch any waste that accumulated there. We also temporarily removed four park trash cans in the race area, replacing them at the end.
The food provided after the race was Little Caesars personal-sized pizzas. Since we have dealt with them at several other events, it was very easy to handle. Many racers chose to take their boxes home with them as well, so they did not add to our total compost. There were small amounts of TerraCycle specialty recycling materials and a good amount of water bottles, jugs and cups to be recycled.
We began takedown at the main station around 7:45 (the awards presentations) to minimize the work we would need to do in the dark. This allowed us to weigh everything, pack up and be done by 9:00 while still keeping our stations open as long as needed.
Why yes, we DO recycle tri bikes and gear here. Oh, sorry, misunderstood you.
We did not receive the aid station bags until we were almost done taking our station down, but they contained mostly cups, so they were very easy to sort later. Other than that, there were no instances of unaccounted waste being discovered at an inopportune time. Thanks to the cooperation of the RF Events crew, our sorting effort went very smoothly. Hoping for the full set of four races next year, and all as smooth in the Zero Waste department!
Happy Planet Running 