After making their way through the byways of Chicago’s West Side, an unrelenting sun beating on their heads, marathoners reached a leafy section of Jackson Boulevard where they were greeted by what they needed most — water.
In recent years, Desiree Tate and her friends set up shop outside her home in the 1500 block of West Jackson to support runners with their cheers and applause. But this year, marathoners running past said water supplies for miles had run dry, and Tate and her group shifted from being just cheerleaders to, as one friend put it, “water detail,” passing out bottled water and filling plastic cups from pitchers.
“We were doing the water like an assembly line,” said Tate, 51. “And the people were just so appreciative. They were like ‘God bless you.’ It was a great feeling.”
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All along the 26.2 miles of the Chicago Marathon, similar scenes played out as spectators offered water jugs, lawn sprinklers and garden hoses for hot, thirsty runners. In some spots along the route, open fire hydrants let loose vast plumes of water that cascaded down hot necks and shoulders.
Organizers attributed the event’s late-morning stoppage to the heat and humidity and said they provided more than enough water. But many participants complained that water and sports drinks were nowhere to be found as early in the race as the 6-mile mark.
“At the stations they were saying: ‘Take the Gatorade, there’s no water’ or ‘Take the water, there’s no Gatorade,'” said Carolyn Stoller of Deerfield Beach, Fla.
For Tate, the marathon has become an annual tradition that started about 10 years ago when people she knew were participating in the event. Back then, their support took the form of signs and cheers. Over the years, she has dispensed fruit and care packages with snacks. Oddly enough, they’ve never had to hand out water.
“Whitney Young [High School, about a block away] was where they usually had a lot of water. But this year they couldn’t make it down there,” she said.
On Sunday, a runner who was cramping stopped near her front door. The woman had a water bottle, but it was empty, so Tate got about a dozen bottles of water from her apartment.
“I brought out the bottles and the crowd just swarmed. They were just so desperate for water,” she said.
“One man said the people of Chicago have more water than the people at LaSalle Bank,” said Sandy Matthews, a friend who helped pass out water.
Beyond providing hydration, just the energy from thousands of rooters was enough to keep some runners going.
“There were miles and miles of people applauding and encouraging us. And, let me tell you, with the temperature 90-some degrees, we needed that cheering today,” said Mike Wien, a 56-year-old runner from Atlanta. “They didn’t have the Cubs to root for, so they rooted for us.”
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