Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 118, May 2019 | Page 29

local community, the situation was brought back
under control. Had runners just understood that
they could survive without water, and would have
assisted the situation by taking fewer sachets at the
next table, the scenario would have stabilised almost
immediately. In this case, after the event it was shown
that there was well in excess of the required water
ordered and delivered, but an error on one table
resulted in massive impact.
This Year in SA
Taking all the above into account, it’s clear why race
organisers will never plan to run short of water, nor
cut orders to save a few bucks. So why have so many
races run out of water, particularly this year, around
the country? Of course, there may be specific cases
of errors in ordering or dispatching, but there are
also key concerns and aspects that contribute to this
phenomenon.
This distorts the signals and hence prevents the brain
from controlling the body’s exertion.
Drinking Too Much
In an interesting reflection, it was noted that between
1921 and 1980 there had been no cases of heat stroke
in the Comrades. Then in 1981, travelling personal
seconds were banned and water tables were provided
at 1.5km intervals instead. It was then that the first
cases of heat exhaustion started to appear, and indeed
the first cases of ‘over-hydration’ (hyponatraemia)
were identified. Over-hydration is a potential killer, as
it dilutes the electrolyte levels in the blood, and also
initiates swelling. Patients can go into a coma and die.
To the best of my knowledge, the 2007 London
Marathon has the case of the fastest marathoner to die
from over-hydration, when David Rogers collapsed after
finishing in 3:30. That year the temperature climbed to
23.5 degrees Celsius, with radiated temperatures of
over 27 degrees from road surfaces – extremely hot
by UK standards – and the runners in London were
thus advised to drink more. As a result, by 15km even
the sub-4:00 runners were faced with empty tables,
meaning that around 30% of the field (10,000 runners)
had taken the water planned for 35,000 runners!
next table, they became fearful of a water shortage
ahead, so each took extra sachets to carry with them.
This meant that instead of a normal two to three
sachets, they took five to six sachets per runner. For
every runner that got water, one runner behind was
now going to lose out later, and as the news spread
forward, each table experienced the same thing, soon
getting cleaned out.
It was then that the nightmare for the organisers
hit, when they found out that only one store room
of water sachets for the tables in Orlando had been
emptied. They now tried to get those other sachets,
and all reserve supplies, to Orlando, but to do so with
the road closures meant that they had to access the
water points by driving some distance along the race
route itself. Ironically, the runners themselves were
delaying the very supplies that they would want at
the next stop. And when the supplies did arrive, often
brought in small quantities by cars, despite requests
for runners to only take two each, they would take
four or five, continuing the trend. What was effectively
a two-station shortage thus turned into a last 16km of
no water for many runners.
Both the runners and organisers fought the ‘fire’ for
around three hours, and with the assistance of the
1 Cooling Down: Firstly, the summer of 2018-2019
has been particularly hot. This impacts on heat
perception for runners and increases the use of
water as a means of cooling. The sponges and water
troughs of yesteryear are no longer used, due to
health concerns, and water showers lost popularity
due to the waste of water, and thus the focus has
come back to using sachets for cooling instead of
drinking. In hot weather, this distorts the required
quantities in a race.
2 Bucket List Bubble: Thanks to a number of
initiatives, running is experiencing a second boom:
parkrun has shown previous ‘couch potatoes’ that
with a little exercise they can go further, and trendy
bucket list participation has been embraced around
the likes of 70.3 Ironman, 94.7 and Cape Town Cycle
Tours, and the Two Oceans and Comrades ultra-
marathons. The latter two have been keen to increase
numbers, which improves their viability for both
sponsors and financials.
The combination has seen a boost in numbers in
the sport, and hence in qualifying races. This growth
is not, however, as an equal percentage across the
finishing order from front to back. This is largely a
‘bubble growth’ around the 53 to 63-minute 10k, 2:00
to 2:30 half marathon, and 4:15 to 5:15 marathon
runner. This is where we start to find relatively young
runners (25-40) having joined the sport with the sole
aim of completing a challenge event. While many
The organisers had made 500ml of water available
per runner every 1.5km, and a further seven Lucozade
stations brought the potential fluid on offer to over
15 litres if a runner only took one item at each station
throughout the race. A normal ballpark for a 3:30
marathoner to consume in a marathon would be 1.75
litres. It’s counter-intuitive that a runner should die
from over-hydration in a race that was actually being
slammed in the media for running out of water!
When One Table Runs Dry…
One of the classic examples of spiralling water deficit
came a few years ago in the Soweto Marathon, when
the mid-pack runners reached the Orlando Stadium
area. The sun had come up, and the climb back to
NASREC loomed large as the runners headed towards
Canada Road. The water table there was quickly
emptied, with every sachet handed out, and there was
still around one hour of runners to come.
The runners who missed out were searching for
single sachets, and by the time they arrived at the
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