Going green is a test (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Going green is a test

10:59am Thursday 4th October 2012 in Letters

Sir.–After five years of intensive training, I now feel that a place in the GB Recycling Triathlon team is only a matter of time.

I have perfected the 30-metre swim to get into the Wade Road Recycling Centre but understand that it does take time to reach my level of expertise.

The boring queuing, however, is never an easy part of the triathlon to conquer but a certain calmness is required when there are six people on duty yet no-one will open the other side of the centre – meaning that a 10- minute wait is a minimum.

It is best to concentrate fully on how you are going to proceed when the third discipline is encountered. This is by far the worst event as it comes at the end of the competition when you are close to collapsing with exhaustion.

If you have chosen the household waste or cardboard or wood receptacles then your speed and physical abilities may not be too taxed, but if garden waste is your chosen event then it is a lottery if you will even finish the competition. Since I have been competing, I have managed a distance of 83 centimetres in the “throwing garden waste” above head height. In such a demanding event, it is usual that the bin is full to the brim and above and to empty a compost bag of waste by throwing it upwards, and at the same time making sure that the waste ejects from the bag, is an event I feel most people shy from. If you are under 5ft 6ins then I suggest that it will be beyond your capabilities.

You will see referees/umpires standing around but none will use the machinery to compact the waste in the bin because it will make the event easier.

I must thank the county council, and site operator, for providing the level of practice it has over many years, and hope that they can persuade future Olympic committees to perhaps include this triathlon in future.

–Alan May, St Leonards Avenue, Chineham, Basingstoke.