The City of Portland Triathlon was held for the first time on Sunday, September 2, 2007 in Portland, Oregon. The olympic-distance event offered individual and relay categories and attracted 300 participants: 231 individuals and 23 relays (teams of three).

The event was created with sustainability as a focus. The volunteer organizing committee established goals of environmental and social responsibility which guided all race production decisions. Due to the progressive values of the host city, many resources were available that might not exist in other cities.

Waste
Extensive recycling and composting were integrated at the event. Marion County's sustainability coordinator served on the race committee and coordinated all aspects of the waste disposal process. TrashCo, a Portland-based hauler, was contracted to provide trash and recycling services for the event.

Stations were created throughout Waterfront Park, the race venue, to provide convenient disposal options for participants. At each station clearly labeled bins for trash, recycling, and compost were available. Volunteers helped prevent cross-contamination by providing helpful instructions to the public. The trash collection containers were themselves sustainable: liner bags were biodegradable "EcoSafe" brand and the bins were made of compostable cardboard.

Two 10-yard dumpsters were rented for the event, one each for trash and recycling. Both ended up about half-full. TrashCo also provided four composting brutes.

Typically, events like triathlons and marathons provide participants with a "goody bag" filled with fliers, coupons, race numbers, and other doo-dads. The Portland Triathlon chose to provide such a bag, but the contents were limited to mainly essentials (bib number, race shirt). The bag itself was a "CleanStream" bag provided by title sponsor Oregon Trout and made from recycled plastic. On it a message encouraged participants to use it for collecting trash by the side of a waterway.

Climate
An attempt was made to source food and drink locally. The beer sponsor, Deschutes Brewery, is located in Bend, Oregon. Fruits were provided by race sponsor Pioneer Organics, which draws its fruit mainly from the Pacific Northwest. In-season, organic stone fruits and watermelon from Oregon supplied the post-race meal and aid stations. Pizza was purchased from Hot Lips, a local chain which adheres to sustainable principles for its production and ingredients.

Due to a longstanding relationship with Hammer Nutrition, energy gels and electrolyte beverage were shipped from Montana. Instead of plastic bottles, the electrolyte beverage (HEED) came in jugs of powder which we mixed on-site. The HEED was served at run and bike aid stations; at the run stations, compostable paper cups were used, and at the bike aid stations the HEED was mixed and served in plastic bottles provided by Hammer Nutrition. This is not the best solution - a bike aid station is not needed for an olympic-distance race or shorter. Instead, participants should be asked to bring their own water bottles, preferably two of them filled before the race.

The bottles used to mix and serve the HEED were donated to the local Boys & Girls Club following the race, to be reused. Leftover food, which was minimal, was composted.

Our water was provided by EartH2O, which bottles from a spring in Central Oregon. We used 20 five-gallon jugs and about 300 individual bottles of water. Single-use, plastic bottles of water should be avoided in the future; extra coolers and cups could be provided at the finish line instead.

The race attracted 300 registrants, most from Oregon or bordering states. The participants traveled a total of 90,528 miles to and from the race, an average of 302 miles per participant, with 86 of them journeying further than 50 miles each way. Most competitors came from Portland or nearby cities; the average distance was skewed by a participant from Sweden and another from the Bahamas.

No steps were taken to offset the carbon footprint of the race. However, an incentive was given for athletes traveling to the race by bike or public transportation: $1 was deducted from the entry fee.

The event was held off the grid, as all raceday energy came from solar panels in the park. The City of Portland Department of Transportation owns two solar trucks, one of which was made available to the event. The truck's array of solar collectors powered two sound systems (one for the band and one for the announcer), as well as the timing system and medical equipment. A separate, smaller panel provided electricity to the blow-up swim finish arch, loaned to the race by Red Bull and set up at the river's edge. In addition to saving money by not having to contract electrical within the park, the solar panels eliminated the need for strings of extension cords across the grass. Additionally, the swim finish arch did not need to use a polluting, noisy gas generator.

Materials
The triathlon attempted to use more environmentally-responsible materials for its infrastructure. As a first-year race, the opportunity existed to set a precedent and not be tied to legacy equipment. Thus, much of the traditional triathlon infrastructure took on a new look.

Bike racks were crafted by a local artist from surplus steel tubing and bamboo poles. The surplus steel had been sitting in a local steelyard for several years, but due to its galvanization was perfectly suitable for the bike rack legs. The oversized 10' lengths of bamboo were purchased from a distributor in southern Oregon, with the bamboo itself coming from China. The biggest concern was strength, but the prototype was found to support a 180-pound individual hanging from the center.

No other bamboo racks are known to exist in Portland. With all of the bike events dotting the calendar, it is the intention to rent the racks and thereby extend their useful life, eliminating the need for other events to create their own.

In addition to building its own bike racks, the triathlon commissioned local artist Aaron Loveitt of Altility Art Studio to create a distinctive finish line arch. His vision took shape in the form of an 18' wide span of surplus metal and cedar. It is comprised of individual planter boxes that can be detached from the frame and transported separately. The boxes are filled with seedums native to Oregon and donated by a local nursery.

This design allows the arch to be distributed after the race; keepers of the planter boxes grow flowers and vegetables throughout the year, and the arch serve a purpose instead of sitting in storage. Each year the planter boxes come back together to form a new arch composed of the year's growth. It is the responsibility of each individual to keep his or her planter healthy; thus, the task is shared and community is forged.

Age group awards were made by volunteers from recycled materials. Used bike tubes and cogs were cleaned and donated by the Community Cycling Center, then taken to Nike for assembly. Nike laser-etched the tubes and stitched the cogs in place, resulting in a unique medal.

Steps were taken to find an alternative to the traditional cotton race t-shirt that all participants expect to find in their goody bag. Shirts made of 100% bamboo were sourced, though the relative sustainability merits of this choice are uncertain. The shirts were stitched in the U.S., but the bamboo itself came from China. In comparison, the cotton used for typical race shirts is often grown in the U.S., but its heavy pesticide requirements and intensive farming techniques make it an environmental scourge.

Race shirts provided to volunteers were made from organic cotton and printed with vegetable-based inks. A local artist was contracted to create the t-shirt design.

Community and Outreach
The Portland Triathlon faced a major obstacle just getting off the ground. The venue for the swim, the Willamette River, has a reputation for being polluted. This is not without warrant - an area near the confluence with the Columbia River has been designated a SuperFund Site by the federal government, and rainwater runoff regularly produces sewage overflows. In rainy months, E. Coli bacteria levels are high and warnings are posted along the riverbank. In summer months, however, the water is safe for swimming provided no rain has occurred within 48 hours.

Although difficult to overcome public perception, marketing for the triathlon provided an opportunity to publicize the cleanup efforts underway by both the City of Portland and environmental organizations. In particular, the work of Oregon Trout and Willamette Riverkeeper could be showcased, and slowly the attitude of local athletes shifted from disgust to hope.

The public was also engaged in the process of creating a sustainable triathlon. Efforts to produce a responsible event were highlighted in newsletters and the race website, and participants were encouraged to do their part (by recycling, cycling to the event, etc). As a result, the attitude of athletes at the event toward responsibility and respect was overwhelmingly positive.

The organizing committee was made up of volunteers from across Portland. All were committed to the ideals of the race, and all took ownership of their area of expertise. Committee members new to triathlon brought novel ideas to the event; for instance, one committee member contacted the Portland Society for Calligraphy, which performed the task of body marking early in the morning of raceday using non-toxic markers. The body markings were transformed from blobs of ink to works of art.

The event made small donations to local charities, mainly as thanks for volunteering services. Groups included a ham radio club and a motorcycle club. There were no event proceeds, as the event lost money in its first year. In future years, as participation grows and the budget increases, the event hopes to support a local charity.

Health Promotion
The Portland Triathlon was the first to be held in downtown Portland. The race venue was specifically selected to engage the public within the city - Waterfront Park lies along the Willamette River, which courses through the center of Portland.

The event offered a "novice wave," intended to afford beginners a non-threatening way to start the swim. Additionally, teams of three could register as a relay in the hopes that single-sport athletes might be exposed to the nuances of swim-bike-run. Of the 231 individual entries, 19 elected to start in the novice wave (8%).

No kids-only events were held, though there are hopes for a future one. Participants were required to be age 13 or older. 34% of the individual participants were female, with 66% male. No specific efforts were made to attract females or minorities. One handicapped individual participated, a man with an amputated arm, though deliberate efforts to attract individuals with disabilities did not occur.

Two weeks before the event, athletes were invited to Waterfront Park for a trial of the swim course. Nearly 80 folks showed up, many of them beginners wanting to experience open water swimming in advance of the competition. Simultaneously, efforts were made to educate the public about the status of water quality in the river. The Willamette Riverkeeper, a local non-profit which regularly tests the water's bacteria levels, sent a representative to present useful information before the swim. Although a member of the local media was present, The Oregonian chose to focus on the "yucky" factor instead of efforts to educate the public and rehabilitate the river. C'est la vie.