More iron than carbon

Professional green athlete Chris Lieto offsets his globetrotting with TerraPass.

As a former middle of the pack Ironman triathlete, I have to say I’m somewhat in awe of the professionals who hammer through the race in a little over 8 hours. When they race the world championship in Kona, Hawaii, these folks dive in for 2.4 miles of ocean swimming, ride for 112 miles in brutal headwinds and volcanic heat, then cap it off with a standard 26.2 marathon through lava fields (the race this year is on October 11).

It’s all under their own steam of course, but they blow a lot of carbon getting to Hawaii, and I’ve often wondered whether any of the athletes take their environmental footprint seriously enough to buy carbon offsets to balance out their emissions.

Well, last night I was browsing around and discovered that Chris Lieto, one of the elite Ironman professional racers, and the US National Ironman Champion in 2003, has become a TerraPass customer, buying carbon offsets to balance out his trip to and from Kona. He even blogged about it over at the Green Athlete:

I’m headed to Kona this weekend to compete in the upcoming Ironman World Championships. As much as I’d love to drive the Green Athlete bio-diesal van….this is obviously not an option. So instead I’m going to buy carbon offsets from TerraPass which is a great organization helping to make a difference.

I’m a little starstruck, but mostly I’m happy to see one of the greats taking the environmental impact of his racing seriously. Thanks for balancing out those flights with TerraPass, Chris. Go get ‘em!

Image by chrislieto.com.