Runners training often need to have water or energy drinks but how do you carry your hydration –
Some of these ideas that may help.
However, currently road running as a sport, and particularly in big city marathons, and large participation events, we are left with few options, but to use the single use plastic solutions, used throughout the world.
This is a video that looks at the some of the different ways that can be used to carry your own drinks in training, but also some ideas on what we need to do in doing our bit to make road running ‘cleaner’.
World wide water is distributed by paper or plastic cups, plastic bottles, or in RSA plastic single use sachets. In comrades with 16000 runners thats over 3 million pieces of single use plastic.
Paper and plastic cups are generally unstable so often fall or are blown off the table. However, there is also a problem that when drinking out of a standard cup a large percentage of water or energy drink goes to the side and not into your mouth.
The options of ‘carry your own’ are not only impractical both for the running, but also for the filling along the route.
Trying to force 16,000 or even 2000 runners in a mass event stop and line up for water is just not a solution. Perhaps for trail running when runners are spread out by the technicality of the terrain, but not in a road race. (nothing stopping those who want to of course)
In addition there are many runners, not simply the elite, who want to get their best time and do not want to either be delayed, or have their performance impaired by carrying extra 2kg and the imbalance of carrying a bladder on your back.
So while there is no problem accommodating those who wish to carry their own in races, the nature of road running is such that for many people its about how fast you can get from A to B, and stopping to refilling on route is not an option.
Lets then look at two aspects: options during training – and just as – if not more – important – is developing a culture of looking out to what we do with the waste. Firstly as runners and secondly as organisers.
What do with plastic sachets is a real problem: Even when the clean up team have passed there is often sachets left on the road side:
How do we make the roads cleaner?
How do we reduce the risk of injury? (of slipping on waste – wet sachet on wet sachet) How do we make it easier for the organisers to tidy up?
How do organisers set up a system thats easier for runners to hit while racing and easier for them to tidy up?
Then finally its also important as to what the organisers do with the waste……
Comrades have tried taking the waste and turning it into desks for schools.
We all have responsibility in this challenge –
Here are some ideas towards the changes required for training and racing