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Chicago Marathon announces water refill stations: Will runners use them? - Canadian Running Magazine (runningmagazine.ca)
submitted 4 weeks ago by to c/running@lemmy.world
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With this initiative, Chicago follows Paris' lead [though it makes their use optical]

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[–] 2 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

I'd be willing to bet that a much smaller number of runners will use them if the pre-filled cups are still available. Sounds like there are some lessons to learn from Paris, but only offering re-fills is doable. There are plenty of trail running races that make it work.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 4 weeks ago (1 child)

    There are plenty of trail running races that make it work.

    True, but I think trail running is fundamentally different.

    The environmental calculus is different: it's just worse to litter on a trail than on a city street.

    The practicalities are different: it's harder to find a place where a drinks table and a bin can both sit comfortably easily in range of the trail but 20 metres apart from each other. And it's harder for volunteers to collect the cups that missed the bin.

    The goals of runners are different. It's much less normal to target a specific time in a trail run because the peculiarities of often less standard distances, different surfaces, and climbs/drops just make that less standard than road races.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 weeks ago

    I understand that trail running "feels" different in terms of atmosphere and culture but I don't think the things you list make a practical difference for the purposes of this comparison.

    I'd also argue that the goals of the runners aren't that different. There are two types of goals in both kinds of running: to finish and enjoy the journey, or to push yourself and see how hard you can do against an outside standard, whether that's other competitors or the clock. Sure, the proportion of who is chasing which category of goal is different between trail and road running, but I don't buy into the idea that the motivations in general are different.

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