Moving towards less disposable products is good, obviously, but damn I would be annoyed if I was in that Paris marathon targeting a PB and got slowed down by having to wait to fill up.
Mandatory refillable bottles are now ubiquitous in trail running, and I think that's fantastic. It's an environment where targeting specific times makes less sense anyway. But for road races, I think Paris's idea of making it mandatory for anyone slower than 2:50 is too extreme. I would be much more amenable to it if the cutoff was 4:00. I feel like that's roughly the slowest time where people are seriously targeting a specific time, rather than their goal being just to finish.
Chicago's optional refill stations will be interesting to watch, but seem ultimately pointless. I doubt they'll see much use.
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.
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.
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.
7 Comments
Zagorath@quokk.au · 4 pts · 2d
Moving towards less disposable products is good, obviously, but damn I would be annoyed if I was in that Paris marathon targeting a PB and got slowed down by having to wait to fill up.
Mandatory refillable bottles are now ubiquitous in trail running, and I think that's fantastic. It's an environment where targeting specific times makes less sense anyway. But for road races, I think Paris's idea of making it mandatory for anyone slower than 2:50 is too extreme. I would be much more amenable to it if the cutoff was 4:00. I feel like that's roughly the slowest time where people are seriously targeting a specific time, rather than their goal being just to finish.
Chicago's optional refill stations will be interesting to watch, but seem ultimately pointless. I doubt they'll see much use.
markstos@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
Which is more annoying: Running three hours to miss a 3-hour goal by one minute or running four hours to miss a 4-hour goal by one minute?
Zagorath@quokk.au · 3 pts · 2d
I don't think the question matters, because it's based on target time. Both of those people would be allowed to grab a cup.
EggZackLee@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 2d
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.
Zagorath@quokk.au · 1 pts · 2d
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.
EggZackLee@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 2d
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.
cricket_bacon@mastodon.social · 0 pts · 2d
@Zagorath
Doing my first marathon the end of next month. Do I want to wear a vest with my two water bottles or rely on the water stations along the course?