Running History  ›  Frank Shorter

How much more is known today. This picture was taken about half way through the marathon, the 20km point. I know for sure because there were only four water stops: at 10km, 20km, 30km and 40km. That was it! That was the “international rule”. You had to grab the bottle yourself, no one could hand it to you. If you took fluids from anyone in the crowd or handed your drink to another runner, you could both be disqualified for “aiding”. At the first water table I was about to grab my bottle when a hand slid ahead of mine and grabbed it. I instinctively grabbed the next bottle. It belonged to Kenny Moore my teammate. What could I do? I could not hand it to him because we would both be disqualified. I did not want to drink it, so I threw it down. Kenny saw what had happened, ran up beside me and joked “Next time, I’ll thank you to take your own bottle.” I apologized profusely.

Frank Shorter