That’s actually an interesting idea… I’ll have to check World Athletics technical regulations to see if allowed.
I’ll send my details for my commission
worked on some things like that back in 2002/2003. Rubber dips, roll on rubber calluses, etc… you can see some of the sketches for it here:
Shoes have gone full weight weenie.
Although there are those adamantly against it, UCI has a 6.9kg weight minimum for bikes. Levels the playing field, makes it about the person, not the equipment. Any chance that happens for shoes?
They have competition regulation for stack height and plate design but not weight. I’m not sure a weight spec would help as it’s such a trade off that brands don’t have much margin to work with.
Shoes also need to be available commercially to qualify for competition. At least in some limited form according to World Athletics regulations. Not sure exactly what that means but I have a call coming up with WA to learn more.
How are they disposable?
you dispose them to land fill after your race
or just leave them at the side of the road with the discarded gel packets.
I’ll be running the Great North Run (UK) in a few weeks, it always pisses me off the amount of rubbish people just throw to the side during the “race”.
“Disposable” as in every pair of shoes. The Adidas EVO 1 I think are made to be best for one race, but I don’t imagine they disintegrate after.
Races do generate a lot of user created waste, though from an organizer’s perspective there’s a lot that can be done. Things like not providing water bottles, race kit bags, offering green entry with no shirt/medal, separating waste (like those gel packs), EV race vehicles, etc.
IAAF Green Label races do more for sustainability.
The TdF started fining riders for jettisoning garbage outside of designated collection zones. This includes bottles and other things like gel packets. Carry your crap like everyone else does.
I think it’s less an issue on elite marathons. Bottles are typically at every 5k intervals and athletes sometimes have gels attached to bottles but usually mixed in. They grab then drink then toss so the waste zone is limited and they pick them up after.
Regular runners however do generate more waste but again it is cleaned up on course.