2 min readAt the Brighton Half Marathon earlier this month in the UK, some runners were given reused paper cups at water stations along the course.
“Towards the end of the race one of our water stations ran out of paper cups for a short period of time, and under pressure made an error of judgement to wash and reuse cups to meet demand from runners for water,” the organizers wrote in a statement.
“Runners were told the cups were being reused at the time,” they said.
While Sarah Pitt, a virologist interviewed by the BBC said that the risk of passing on germs was “very low,” and “the only thing you can really catch is coughs and colds,” on principle, it’s just a bit odious to hydrate from a cup that’s also been supped upon by the mouth of a stranger.
When you register for a race—assuming it’s not a bare-bones community event—there are certain expectations one might have about advertised amenities like water stations. You don’t necessarily expect to be sharing someone else’s trough water.
The race organizers clearly didn’t intend for things to go this way, and apologized in their statement, vowing to do better next time.
“We do not condone any sharing or reusing of cups,” they wrote. “We take this very seriously and will now be speaking to our teams post-race to strengthen our processes for the future.”
It sounds like the whole communion cup-debacle could have been avoided with better planning, but also? Reusable water cups at races is already a thing, and when hydration stations are set up with the intention of being sustainable, there’s nothing icky about it.
The reusable cup service, Hiccup, was started by Kristina Smithe in 2020, as a way to offset the waste and environmental impact of running events. The company provides event organizers with 8-ounce silicone cups and then washes and sanitizes them for the next race. It’s still a fairly fledgling concept, but Hiccup has been used for some major events like Grandma’s Marathon, the Chicago Marathon, and races put on by one of New York’s biggest race operators, NYCRUNS.
There isn’t yet an equivalent service across the pond, but over the past several years, it’s become more common for race organizers in the UK to require runners to supply their own bottle or cup, or for aid stations to be stocked with compostable cups. In 2020, Runner’s World reported that the London Marathon operated a closed-loop plastic bottle recycling scheme in four of the city’s boroughs and offered compostable cups at three aid stations.
The Oxford Half Marathon, along with several other major races in the UK, has also used fully recyclable cups since 2019. Other sustainability initiatives have been introduced as well, like offering rideshare options, doing away with commemorative t-shirts, and giving finishers wooden medals that can be used as drink coasters in place of metal medals.
Maybe next year the Brighton Half Marathon will make headlines for offering reusable cups—on purpose.
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Like the Wind Magazine, The New York Times, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
