A wooden medal for everyone: “at L’Eroica, we are all fourth”

Finisher medals are usually shiny metal, so the choice L’Eroica made for its 29th edition caught my eye. Every rider crossing the line in Gaiole in Chianti gets a medal made entirely of wood, printed with eco-friendly inks. The organisers present it as a way to leave a lighter footprint on the Tuscan landscape that has always been the backdrop of the ride.

What I like more than the sustainability angle is the story they attach to it. In competitive sport the wooden medal is the prize for fourth place, the one that just misses the podium. At L’Eroica, they say, we are all fourth. Nobody finishes first, there is no stopwatch to beat and no ranking to climb. Everyone still gets to the finish, powered only by their own legs, over climbs, white roads, dust and mud.

The text also notes that wood has a living quality metal does not: each grain pattern is unique, which echoes the individual stories of the people on the bikes. It is described as a symbol of sustainable cycling and of a community where the first and the last rider share the same spirit.

For those of us who ride and collect old steel bikes, that fits. The point of a vintage ride has never been the result; it is the beauty of fatigue, the thrill of getting there on a machine that is decades old, and respect for the places you cross. Personally I find a wooden medal a much better souvenir than another piece of metal in a drawer.

Source: Eroica