Can you fuel like the elite at the world's biggest marathons?

Elite runners get separate, individualised sports drinks delivery on major marathon courses. Leo Spall investigated whether he could enjoy the same treatment.

Elite runners are given their own drinks on the course Pic: David Levenson for Virgin Money London Marathon

Have you ever felt sick of the taste of Lucozade or Gatorade while running one of the majors? What about becoming irritated by the weight or bounce of carrying your own drink? Maybe you’ve wondered if you could get the same rocket fuel as the frighteningly fast guys at the front.

If you have, I’m with you – on all three counts. There isn’t much I have to whinge about from running two of the World Marathon Majors, but personalised on-course nutrition at 5km intervals – the set-up for elite runners - is a luxury I’d always like to have.

Sadly, running at anything like the pace they do isn’t an option, and I hate carrying anything when I run; I’ve also developed a strong dislike for the London Marathon’s on-course, orange-flavoured Lucozade over the years, and gels alone do not do the trick for me, so I’ve been experimenting.

Fussy so and so? Absolutely, but establishing a personalised winning formula that you can take to various different marathons without having to chop and change would be a big bonus.

At the moment Maurten, a relatively new product on the market which claims to offer higher-than-normal carbohydrate intake without GI distress, would be in my plan.

If it’s good enough for some of the fastest runners on the planet – the company says it’s been used by 2018 London Marathon winners Eliud Kipchoge and Vivian Cheruiyot, and Boston winner Desiree Linden - I figured it’s good enough for me.

So I paid the higher-than-average price for some Maurten 320 Drink Mix, which is supposed to supply 80g of carbohydrates when diluted in 500ml of water, to try to fuel like the elite earlier this year.

After checking it’s almost honey-like taste and slightly thicker-than-normal consistency agreed with me, I tried it out at this year’s London Marathon and had no complaints (although more electrolytes might have helped in the heat (I told you I was fussy)).

The biggest problem I hit was logistics. Trying to get friends and family in enough places where I would be able to see them clearly and take a bottle from them easily with the huge crowds was seemingly impossible; I decided instead on a mix-and-match approach of Maurten, gels, water and Lucozade.

The masses often only have access to one flavour of drink at races Pic: Mark McNestry*

Some smaller European marathons – San Sebastian in Spain and Pisa in Italy, for example – offer recreational runners the chance to have their drinks distributed at tables along the course.

At other 26.2 mile races in the UK, such as Southampton and Edinburgh, and no doubt elsewhere, it is much more feasible to take drinks from friends and family, and even for them to get around to different parts of the course ahead of you.

Among the majors, however, with all their big crowds providing a major obstacle to arranging your own supplies with friends and family, only Berlin offers an ‘own drinks’ service.

I took advantage of Berlin’s system three years ago and, while it was a bit of a challenge to identify my bottle among dozens of others, it worked pretty well.

From experience elsewhere, I had learnt that trying to make your bottles stand out was a good idea: I wrapped mine in Day-Glo tape and attached easily removable flags, which helped.

Berlin organisers estimated they get bottles from around 800 runners for these tables early on the morning of the race, when you deposit them near the main entrance area. The drinks are then transported by truck and put on tables after the elite drink stations every 5km.

"If Gatorade Endurance Formula works for you, you should be well set at Chicago, New York and Boston."

If Germany’s major can offer an 'own drinks' service, why can’t the others? I asked all the race organisers and these are the responses I got:

“As the largest marathon in the world … the safety and security of our runners, volunteers, spectators, and staff members is our top priority,” said Chris Weiller, Senior Vice President of Media, Public Relations, and Professional Athletics at New York Road Runners.

“We handle a finite number of fluids for the professional athlete fields, and this affects the number of athletes we invite for those fields. Outside of these elite fluid stations, there are 23 course fluid stations staffed by 6,000 volunteers.

“More than 1.5 million recyclable paper cups are used to hand out 64,890 gallons of water and 32,040 gallons of Gatorade. Additionally, runners can carry their own fluid, or have friends and family situated along the course to hand them what they need.”

The London Marathon briefed me along similar lines without going on the record, the Chicago Marathon only confirmed it didn’t offer an ‘own drinks’ service, and the Tokyo Marathon didn’t reply.

A statement from the oldest of the majors said: “The Boston Marathon only offers elite hydration stations for those in our elite athlete field. These are separate stations from our traditional hydration stations meant for elite athletes that are located every five kilometers.

“For those not in the elite field, the Boston Marathon offers multiple hydration stations that include Gatorade Endurance Formula, Poland Spring Natural Water, and Clif Shot Energy Gels.

“There are 24 hydration stations that have Gatorade and Poland Spring water along the course, while there are three Clif Shot Energy Gel stations.”

To be fair to the American majors, the regularity of stations offering sports drinks is impressive, and there are significantly more of them than along the London course.

If Gatorade Endurance Formula works for you, you should be well set at Chicago, New York and Boston. If it doesn’t, then you’ll probably have to make some sort of compromise.

And even a fussy so-and-so like me can deal with that to run one of the majors.

*Picture used under CC0 license