if you are not elite is it ilegal to have friends hand you your drink bottles along the course? I am hoping to run 2:25 but just incase i qualified for the trials? this is my first marathon.
if you are not elite is it ilegal to have friends hand you your drink bottles along the course? I am hoping to run 2:25 but just incase i qualified for the trials? this is my first marathon.
I belive it is only a problem for elite division runners.
what I heard is that you can not be handed a water bottle, but you can have friends place a water bottle on the official water table right before you run by. anyone out there able to confirm this? also, how fast do you have to be before you can have water on the elite table?
Google "USATF Rules of Competition." If you are handed drinks/GU/etc. along the course, I believe that according to USATF rules, that would constitute "unfair aid," and you would be subject to DQ. Contact the elite coordinator of the marathon you want to enter, explain your OT qualifier aspirations, and refer to past marks that indicate your fitness to do so. Good luck!
What if you are running with a buddy, and you pick up two drinks and hand one to him? Illegal or no?
Carnivore 69 wrote:
What if you are running with a buddy, and you pick up two drinks and hand one to him? Illegal or no?
No, the 2 lead runners at the San Diego R-N-R shared the same bottle and cups near the finish after one of them missed his bottle.
i did email the director but he never emailed back. It's important because it would make sense to practice with cups since thats harder to drink out of.
I kind of got around this with a former girlfriend. I went to the water stop, explained the situation, and asked a worker there to hand her the bottle. I'm not sure it was 100% kosher, but I felt better.
You will still be elligable for the trials as long as you arent disqualified from the race. I've ran 2 marathons.One under 2:20 and the other just over 2:20. I was handed a bottle on and off in both of them by a friend and there wasnt any issues. I still received prize money in the sub 2:20 race.
What marathon is it? By "contact", I mean call the race management, ask for the elite coordinator, and talk to him or her in person. They tend to be very sympathetic to people going for the trials standard. I was able to get an elite start (water bottles on the elite table) for a marathon when I was going for the standard in '04, even though it was my first marathon (I had some decent 5k, 10k, 1/2marathon marks).