Sorry, but its a bit hillarious that you think most people are driving to compete at Paris marathon. Its Paris, not Atlanta.
Have you ever traveled anywhere outside of a major city center? Most people drive cars, everywhere.
Yeah, but Paris is not outside of a major city center. Its hillarious to entertain the idea that people (where a large part come from other countries) are hopping into their car and driving down to the Paris marathon start area.
I think that we should be doing whatever we can to save the planet, but eliminating paper cups at marathons is just performative. Where I live, they ban stuff like straws and plastic cutlery but then turn around and accommodate anyone that wants to build a massive data center. That data center will do far more harm in the long run.
I ran a cupless marathon a while back. It's not as much of a time delay as you think--especially if the water stations are adequately staffed. They just pour the water right into you bottle, meaning you can have 32 ounces out of a 15 second or so stop. Granted, the marathon I did cupless was a small marathon with lots of volunteers. I'm not sure how this would scale to a massive marathon like Paris.
But here's what I also think: if it's a rule for the masses, it should be a rule for everyone. So I think the elites should have to carry their own bottle and decide when to stop. It would add interesting strategy to racing a marathon. Kind of like pit stops in a Nascar race.
I ran a cupless marathon a while back. It's not as much of a time delay as you think--especially if the water stations are adequately staffed. They just pour the water right into you bottle, meaning you can have 32 ounces out of a 15 second or so stop. Granted, the marathon I did cupless was a small marathon with lots of volunteers. I'm not sure how this would scale to a massive marathon like Paris.
But here's what I also think: if it's a rule for the masses, it should be a rule for everyone. So I think the elites should have to carry their own bottle and decide when to stop. It would add interesting strategy to racing a marathon. Kind of like pit stops in a Nascar race.
No need to pit stop. I would have a few team mates in the race and drink from their water bottles instead of stopping to refill my own. They would sacrifice their race like cyclists do in the TdF.
Most Parisians are taking trains to the race. Eliminating those paper cups is also eliminating a lot of garbage from the dumps. Ten x 40000=400,000 per year.
I ran a cupless marathon a while back. It's not as much of a time delay as you think--especially if the water stations are adequately staffed. They just pour the water right into you bottle, meaning you can have 32 ounces out of a 15 second or so stop. Granted, the marathon I did cupless was a small marathon with lots of volunteers. I'm not sure how this would scale to a massive marathon like Paris.
But here's what I also think: if it's a rule for the masses, it should be a rule for everyone. So I think the elites should have to carry their own bottle and decide when to stop. It would add interesting strategy to racing a marathon. Kind of like pit stops in a Nascar race.
Your comment is meaningless unless you tell us how fast you are. Cupless is fine if you're running maybe 10 mpm or slower.
I ran a cupless race a little under 8 mpm pace, and coming to a full stop was absolutely brutal. I was about a minute off my PR, and that honestly may have made the difference.