World of Water has been the official water supplier of the Manitoba Marathon since 2006. Having 13 years’ worth of experience has been a definite asset when it comes to planning and implementing our delivery strategy on the day of the Marathon. We wanted to provide some insight as far as what is involved on Marathon day from World of Water’s perspective.
We begin to supply water for the Marathon the Saturday before the race. We drop off two vans and park them right next to the ‘Recovery area.’ The water inside these 2 vans are the first bit of water the participants receive after crossing the finish line.
Just like the participants and other volunteers of the Marathon, the day of the Race starts bright and early for us as well. We arrive to our Stores around 4:30am and load our delivery vans with the amount of water and pumps required.
Each one of World of Water’s nine Winnipeg locations are each responsible for supplying water to a specific number of water stations throughout the course.
By 5:30am water has already started to arrive throughout the course and a World of Water van parks near the Start-Line. The World of Water van that is situated near the Start-Line acts as a refill station for those participants wanting to make sure their personal water bottles are full for the journey that awaits them. Well before the start of the Marathon, all the water and pumps have arrived to the water stations and then we wait…
As the runners pass by the first few water stations, we come back and collect all the bottles and pumps. We repeat this action as the runners continue to move their way through the course. The van that was parked near the Start-Line is now cleared out of the way and our focus shifts to the water at the Recovery area and making sure there is still ample supply for all the runners.
Once the last runners cross the finish line, we then remove the vans from the Recovery area, make sure no bottles were left behind and bring everything back to our Stores so that we can sanitize and refill bottles before business opens on Monday.
In total we use 17 World of Water vans and get assistance from over 70 World of Water employees to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible on Marathon Day.
World of Water has donated over 2 million pounds of our DewDrop Distilled water to the Manitoba Marathon over the past 13 years, we are honored and privilege to provide all the dedicated participants with the “Purest Water Possible” when out on the course.