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Should finisher’s medals be ditched to help the environment?

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  • December 3, 2018 at 4:00 pm #29179
    tommyraleigh

    Just happened across this on facebook…. https://www.facebook.com/iconiccycling/photos/a.1515380715383296/2160670027521025/?type=3&theater

    Basically the company that organises the Bike Oxford Bath and Chester sportives are not giving out medals any more to cut waste and instead offering a free photo. Seems like a pretty good idea to me but appears quite a few of the poential entrants aren’t happy! Are these people being precious or should you expect the medal for the price of some of these sportive type events? Was going to enter Bike Oxford and just wanted some opinions before offering my support to them by entering! I do believe they’re doing it with the right intentions, trust people here to offer a better counter-argument than some of the knuckle-draggers commenting on their fb page if there is one 🙂 

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  • December 4, 2018 at 4:41 pm #932345
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    Kapelmuur

    I had dozens of medals from

    I had dozens of medals from distance running events I did for about 20 years from the early 1980s, they have all been binned except my London Marathon medal and a nice ceramic bell I got for finishing in the top 100 (out of 3,500 starters) in a 10k in Stoke on Trent.

    The medals seemed nice when I started competing but as they piled up I came to the realisation that a gong just for finishing was pointless.

    The medals from my handful of cycling sportive have gone in the first bin I found after the finish. I keep my number as a souvenir though.

    December 4, 2018 at 3:42 pm #932343
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    peted76

    It would be a fine idea for

    It would be a fine idea for people to collect ‘stamps’ within their own personal cycling passport. Like a brevet card or sticker album, but one which never gets ‘filled’ up unless you run out of pages. 

     

    December 4, 2018 at 3:16 pm #932341
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    EddyBerckx

    Awavey wrote:

    Awavey wrote:
    StoopidUserName wrote:
    …for a club rider or someone who rides regularly do you really need a medal once you’ve done your first 60/100 etc? Is it an achievement to ride at 15mph for a few

    But if you are a club rider regularly riding those distances,and see it as no achievement riding at those speeds for extended periods,why would you pay £30-40 to ride those sportives anyway ? Go do an audax or a club ride instead

    It’s not OCD for me at least,even if apparently keeping gig tickets as mementos makes it sound like you are some crazy hoarder,heck I’ve still got my swimming certificates from primary school and a medal from a 5 mile fun run I did when I was barely in my teens,still got my cycling proficiency certificate too :p

    But if organisers are charging more than £25 quid for a sportive, and it’s a distance I don’t regularly ride, I want a medal for it, else i might just as well copy the route and do it by myself later at no cost.

    Yeah another good counterpoint. Maybe I was being too harsh

    December 4, 2018 at 3:15 pm #932339
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    EddyBerckx

    FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

    FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

    StoopidUserName wrote:
    One final thing – there are people in my club who go crazy for a medal – they literally will not go to some events unless they are sure they’ll get one…which I find pathetic but I’m sure other people have this attitude too and it may impact the events organisers…

     

    I suppose it’s like collecting visa stamps in your passport, or something.  Or like someone I knew who used to collect the ticket stubs of every gig he ever went to.

     

      Probably, unless you are completely immune to such OCD-tendencies, once you start down that route it doesn’t feel ‘official’ unless you have that defined acknowledgement that you’ve done it.  I remember thinking like that about Youth Hostel stamps when I was (much) younger.

     

    I don’t believe it makes a signifiant difference to ‘the environment’ though, compared to all the other impacts of a big organised event.  But organizers are free to decide it’s not worth the bother and/or it’s a bit silly.

    Yep fair points, they can be a useful reminder of events you’ve done

    December 4, 2018 at 3:00 pm #932337
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    Awavey

    StoopidUserName wrote:

    StoopidUserName wrote:
    …for a club rider or someone who rides regularly do you really need a medal once you’ve done your first 60/100 etc? Is it an achievement to ride at 15mph for a few

    But if you are a club rider regularly riding those distances,and see it as no achievement riding at those speeds for extended periods,why would you pay £30-40 to ride those sportives anyway ? Go do an audax or a club ride instead

    It’s not OCD for me at least,even if apparently keeping gig tickets as mementos makes it sound like you are some crazy hoarder,heck I’ve still got my swimming certificates from primary school and a medal from a 5 mile fun run I did when I was barely in my teens,still got my cycling proficiency certificate too :p

    But if organisers are charging more than £25 quid for a sportive, and it’s a distance I don’t regularly ride, I want a medal for it, else i might just as well copy the route and do it by myself later at no cost.

    December 4, 2018 at 2:42 pm #932335
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    Saintlymark

    It’s an interesting concept,

    It’s an interesting concept, but I’d be interested to really know the environmental impact of finishers medals. I don’t think there is any harm in doing this, but is a medal any more impactful than the photograph? Some tangible reward for finishing is an important part of the sportive process for some (many?) 

    December 4, 2018 at 1:20 pm #932333
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    FluffyKittenofTindalos
    StoopidUserName wrote:
    One final thing – there are people in my club who go crazy for a medal – they literally will not go to some events unless they are sure they’ll get one…which I find pathetic but I’m sure other people have this attitude too and it may impact the events organisers…

     

    I suppose it’s like collecting visa stamps in your passport, or something.  Or like someone I knew who used to collect the ticket stubs of every gig he ever went to.

     

      Probably, unless you are completely immune to such OCD-tendencies, once you start down that route it doesn’t feel ‘official’ unless you have that defined acknowledgement that you’ve done it.  I remember thinking like that about Youth Hostel stamps when I was (much) younger.

     

    I don’t believe it makes a signifiant difference to ‘the environment’ though, compared to all the other impacts of a big organised event.  But organizers are free to decide it’s not worth the bother and/or it’s a bit silly.

    December 4, 2018 at 1:06 pm #932331
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    EddyBerckx

    Personally I couldn’t care

    Personally I couldn’t care less about getting an utterly meaningless medal…would be different if it was for getting podium at a race or for some epic distance or for something out of the ordinary.

     

    Events like London to Brighton where lots of mostly non (lycra clad) cyclists ride for them a big distance is different – it means something…for a club rider or someone who rides regularly do you really need a medal once you’ve done your first 60/100 etc? Is it an achievement to ride at 15mph for a few hours? For those where it is then yeah, I get it’d be nice to have a medal but my point it I dont think it is an achievement for many people, it’s just about collecting something which’ll end up in a  box in the shed.

     

    Hasn’t stopped me telling my little one I’ve won ride london twice, so despite the above I do find some value in them 😛

     

    One final thing – there are people in my club who go crazy for a medal – they literally will not go to some events unless they are sure they’ll get one…which I find pathetic but I’m sure other people have this attitude too and it may impact the events organisers…

    December 4, 2018 at 12:06 pm #932329
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    tommyraleigh

    Wow thanks for responses

    Wow thanks for responses everyone, now I just don’t know! Like I said like to think they’ve got best of intentions, but end of the day medals don’t actually matter that much to me and agree with andyp that a bit of cake and a drink at the end is just fine. Though I appreciate others like the memento. Maybe it should be a tick box, at the end you got a marqee to collect medals from and everyone else moves along? Assuming everyone is honest about it mght be a better way. And I agree promoting greener transport to the events and cutting back on plastic bottles will prob help more than cutting out medals. I”ve entered Bike Oxford though, will make for some interesting mid-ride discussion anyway!

    December 4, 2018 at 10:38 am #932327
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    kil0ran

    Still use the Powerade bottle
    Still use the Powerade bottle I got on my first sportive. Only medals I’ve kept are RideLondon – I’m on a bit of a declutter/avoid consumption drive at the moment. Systematically sending back catalogues and junk mail, and cutting back where possible on packaging and other useless stuff. Last few sportives I’ve done I’ve refused the freebies unless they’re gels/cake/other consumables

    December 4, 2018 at 10:24 am #932325
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    andyp

    Cup of tea and a piece of

    Cup of tea and a piece of cake will do me. No need for a crap medal and the rest of the tat given out. Wait, perhaps Audax is the way to go…

    December 4, 2018 at 10:03 am #932323
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    Mark B
    Simon E wrote:
    They could give something useful (an inner tube & puncture repair kit?) to people who live within a certain radius and rode to the start.

    You’d deny the freebies to someone mad enough to ride in from outside your radius?

     

    December 4, 2018 at 9:47 am #932321
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    PRSboy

    Muttley finishing a sportive.

    Muttley finishing a sportive…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qkSe4YM7EY

     

     

    December 4, 2018 at 8:10 am #932319
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    srchar

    I’ve kept a handful (5, I

    I’ve kept a handful (5, I think) of sportive medals, where I’ve particularly enjoyed the ride and/or it was distinctly memorable for some reason.  Would I care if I’d never been given one?  No.  Particularly if it was for “Bike Oxford”</sportive_snobbery>

    December 4, 2018 at 12:48 am #932317
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    Awavey

    StraelGuy wrote:

    StraelGuy wrote:

    Brown dog wrote:
    Getting rid of all advertising junk in you race pack would be a better way of reducing waste 

     

    Totally agree, I love the medal but the packets of Wiggle socks and buffs all over the house from finishers packs will end up in landfill if I ever get round to tidying up my house.

     

     

    The socks I do find useful,even if the colour faded notibly after one wash,the buff though…no its like extra small and cant even use it as a handy cloth to clean sunglasses with

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