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London Marathon 2016 Surprise As People Stole Runners’ Water, Plus Winners [Video]

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 08:18 PST, Apr 24, 2016

While athletes were running the London Marathon, dozens of people, including adults and children, were seen at a water station, loading bottles of Buxton water into trolleys while the runners went past them.

It was at the 26.2-mile route in Deptford in South East London that the frenzy occurred, with adults and children frantically reaching into the crates filled with multi-packs of bottled water that were intended for the runners.

As reported by the Mirror, they then started packing the bottled water into large plastic grocery bags, shopping trolleys, and even on the top of children’s strollers and wheeled it away from the scene.

While this was happening, the Buxton water marshals were helpless as the crowd reached across to grab as many bottles of water as they could. Watch the frenzy in the video included below.

The video is thought to have been made by one of the water station volunteers by the name of Mark Hudson.

Speaking over the video footage he said, “Obviously hard times in Deptford.”

“Although the last coach has gone past, so the marathon runners are on their own, it’s quite a sad state,” Hudson continued.

Besides the ongoing theft of the water, there were reportedly almost 40,000 runners taking part in the London Marathon on Sunday, and several records were broken after runners set off from Blackheath and Greenwich Park and finished on The Mall.

As reported by the Guardian, Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge successfully defended his 2015 title in the elite men’s race, completing the course in record time. He clocked the second fastest marathon time in history two fours, three minutes, and five seconds, reportedly eight seconds outside the world record. His compatriot, Stanley Biwott, finished second in two hours, three minutes, and 52 seconds.

It was another Kenyan, Jemima Sumgong, who won the elite women’s race. She recovered from a fall on the road with a grazed head to take her first London title in two hours, 22 minutes, and 58 seconds.

The marathon had started after a countdown by British astronaut Major Tim Peake up in the International Space Station. Peake broke a special record all of his own this year by running the London Marathon on a treadmill in the ISS, breaking the record for the fastest marathon in orbit at three hours, 35 minutes, and 21 seconds — no mean feat in zero gravity.

In the men’s wheelchair race, Marcel Hug of Switzerland beat Britain’s Paralympic champion David Weir, who achieved third place. American Tatyana McFadden won the women’s race for a fourth consecutive year.

There was a huge range of ages running in the marathon, with race veteran Iva Barr, 88, from Bedford running her 20th London Marathon. On the other end of the scale, Rebecca Manners from Manningtree in Essex celebrated turning 18 years of age by running alongside her parents in the marathon.

One lucky runner will enter the record books as the millionth finisher in the history of the London Marathon, which was first held back in 1981. Reportedly, their identity will only be announced in May.

The winners’ prizes were presented by Prince Harry, who is patron of the London Marathon Charitable Trust.

According to ITV News, the cleanup operation was then ongoing as Westminster City Council’s cleaning teams will have to remove what is anticipated to be more than seven tons of garbage, four tons of recycling, and 40,000 plastic water bottles from the streets. The cleaning reportedly started as the last runners crossed the finish line.

While the amount of garbage sounds bad, in 2015, much of the waste was reportedly recycled into new bottles, upholstery for car seats, and eco-friendly clothing after the London Marathon was run.

[Photo by Eliud Kipchoge/Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Images]

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