You can find the full release at http://media-newswire.com/release_1100079.html, with an excerpt below.

(Excerpt)

(Media-Newswire.com) – A University of Bath student is aiming to become the greenest ever Ironman when he competes in the Barcelona Challenge triathlon on Sunday 4 October.

Jon Alexander will set aside conventional sports gear for the gruelling event, aiming to cycle 112 miles on a bike made from bamboo, run 26.2 miles in shoes made from recycled fibres and swim 2.4 miles in an eco-friendly limestone based rubber wetsuit.

Jon, 27, hopes to motivate more athletes to get involved in the environmental movement and more sports companies to take a greener approach.

Jon rowed for Great Britain at under-23 level and has completed four marathons. He hopes to complete his first triathlon in under 12 hours.

Jon said: “I believe all athletes are environmentalists at heart, if you define environmentalists as people who love the natural world. But we fly all over the world, we burn through a load of food, and we use a huge amount of specialist gear – all without really appreciating what we’re doing to the places where we love to train. We don’t even put pressure on suppliers. I’ve found a couple of small companies who are doing things differently but there’s real lack of take-up in the sports world.”

He’s keen to point out that he doesn’t feel his green approach will compromise his performance and says that bamboo bikes have even been shown by several US athletes to improve performance over a long ride.

(The press release continues at http://media-newswire.com/release_1100079.html)