You’ve seen it before...the race day water stop. Lines of tables, sticky pavement, thousands of discarded paper cups strewn from curb to curb. And repeat this scene 14-20 times for a marathon.
Isn’t there a better way?
Isn’t there a better way?
We think so, and our loop course allows for it. Less waster, less litter, and using no new resources. Here’s how it works:
Grab your bottle, keep moving and then throw it in the basket just down the course from the water table. Lather, rinse, repeat.
- Each runner brings his/her own water bottle(s). We’ve all got them laying around. Bring two if you can. Or just bring a Gatorade bottle or the Diet Coke bottle your cubemate guzzled yesterday.
- Write your bib number on the bottle(s). It’ll be your identifier. If you forget, we’ll have tape and markers at registration to mark them.
- Mark what fluid you want in the bottle(s). Put a "W" if you want water. Put a "G" on it if you want Gatorade. If you want both, bring multiple bottles. Put "NF" (for no fill) if you don't want us to refill it.
- Race Morning: Fill the bottles with your drink of choice and put them on the hydration table we’ll have set up just past the start/finish line.
- Thirsty during the race? Ask for your bottle from one of our volunteers...a shout of “eighty-three, please” will do the trick as you approach.
- Then, play basketball! Take a drink and toss your bottle in laundry baskets we’ll have set up 15-20m down the course.
- We'll refill it with the fluid you chose. And next time around, it'll be there again!
- Have GU or other landfill inducing items? Discard them in the trash receptacle just past the water station or leave it on the water table and we will help you out.
So, the table looks like this: A fun menagerie of bottles!!
Here's a video of the whole process from our 2012 race.
Here's a video of the whole process from our 2012 race.
Here's a brief, 45 second video on how to prepare your bottles for race day.
If we do this right and do it together, we can have keep everyone perfectly hydrated and fueled while requiring no new resources and creating no litter!
