15 October 2010

How to organize an event sustainable

4vita was involved for the third time in the triathlon of Monaco to offer and present to the public solutions for environmental and health sustainability.

In 2008, the project was born and Monaco race was the first step of a long list of events that adopted 4vita ® solutions to act in the fields of environment, health and sports. Since then the initiative was joined by other races organized in Nice, Austria, Spain, Germany and Estonia. By providing simple and practical actions, the 4vita ® team made the public and athletes to future ambassadors for the environment.

The TriStar111 Monaco 2010, was highly performing on waste recycling: 1.2 tonnes of waste of which 30% were recyclable packaging (PET bottles, cans, cans and cartons) were recovered and sent to the sorting center Cannes to be transformed into new products.

This action was carried out in partnership with SMA (Société Monégasque d'Assainissement). The ambassadors of 4vita and the municipal team have supported the organization by setting up more than 100 yellow, grey, blue and green containers to that the waste could be sorted on all the course and race venues. Eco zones have been set up for athletes at the Energy Stations along the race course to dispose more than 3,000 cans and cups. The organizers have been very strict: disposing waste outside the Eco Zones was a red card! On the RUN Energy Stations tab water replaced the water bottle. A pipe was put in place so that we could waive more than 2000 PET bottles.

At the end of the event, we have arranged all recovered recyclable material to a large pile of yellow bags at the entrance of the Chapiteau de Fontvieille. The purpose of this operation is to inform athletes and volunteers about the impact of an event like this. And to show, that if a responsible management of waste was not put in place, all this would have been burned instead of giving it a new life and by this working to reduce consumption of natural resources and energy.

The development of a carbon footprint study is also underway, with the support of the Foundation Prince Albert II, and we hope to advance this approach in the future. We recognize the need to reduce the impact wherever we can and acknowledge the importance of this issue like the movement of athletes.

Concerning aspects of health and sport, 4vita has partnered with sports coaches WTS. The objective of this partnership is to reflect with professionals on the most appropriate solutions to the development of nutritional services on site and advice on physical training of amateur athletes who are new to triathlon.

Depending on the effort and difficulty of the course and distance remaining, we are steadily reconsidering the products we provide in the Energy Stations. A true reflection of state of science is our approach in order to support the athletes to better manage their resources on race day and throughout the year.

At the 4vita booth on the Star & Co Village the 4vita team offered information and actions to the athletes during the three days of the event: they were able to better know the simple solutions to reduce their impact on the environment, how to manage their race and test their fitness with the help of a WTS coach.

A conference on the theme: "Be Powerful, Durable: how to progress in managing its health capital?" was also proposed to inform and advise athletes on the benefits of choosing a healthy diet and physical training most suitable for better results. Among the speakers, we were able to welcome Jean-Baptiste Wiroth the trainer and partner of 4vita ® on the health component, Patrick Wiaux, sports nutrition consultant, PRO athletes Chris McCormack and Marcel Zamora, and the amateur athlete Laurent Castillo, Professor of Surgery, CHU Nice - 5 participations at Ironman France.

Reflections for the 2011 Monaco TriStar111 begin immediately and throughout the year on the website www.4vita.org . This site gives all the information about the actions to be taken and advice from professionals in the fields of health, sport and environment.