The final triathlon of the 2025 season HPR serves is in the books, with the T-Rex Tri last Wednesday at Island Lake State Rec Area in Brighton. In a way it’s a marker of the approaching end of the summer, although there will be plenty of activity from now until the snow flies, and even after!
Happy athlete, happy dinos – everybody’s happy tonight!
The T-Rex Tri is the final in a series of four identical events, featuring a sprint triathlon or duathlon at Island Lake State Recreation Area in Brighton. As it was the final of the series, the RF Events crew went all out, dressing like the Flintstones (see top photo), and presenting finishers of all four events with special sweatshirts and finisher glasses. The extra packaging is one reason why event waste spiked up, mainly from additional cardboard.
It was a very pleasant evening, and as it gets dark faster now, we set up a minimal main station to allow for quicker takedown, and began weighing the collected waste early. We still provided full service, however, with a second station near the pizza truck and All Waste boxes in transition and the finish line. We also removed six park trash cans for the duration of the event. They must know us by now, as they didn’t even have liners.
I think this event set a new record for dog attendance. And since I mentioned dogs, a photo is a must.
Main waste captured was Little Caesars pizza boxes (composted), finish line water and Gatorade bottles, cups and jugs from water stops, and cardboard. Weight of the waste streams was up about 15 percent from July’s Pterodactyl Tri, and was the most of the four in the series. Landfill at 3 lbs. was actually down a bit from last year, even with the addition of a few diapers. Still fit in a single pail.
Thanks to HPR interns Marilyn and Jenny, who sorted, weighed, and got everything taken down just as it got dark, even with the aid station bags coming in last-minute. Great work!
We tried out the new “really tall” sign poles. Overkill, but a good test.
And that’s it for us until the weekend of September 5-7, when we take on the biggest event of our year at Run Woodstock, the first of several larger events in September and October. See you then!
Happy Planet Running 