The Taroko Gorge Marathon attracted nearly 15,000 participants, but the participants ran into a water shortage problem which some of them solved by drinking water from a mountain stream.
Video script:
Hundreds of people lined up to use Taroko’s mountain stream as a solution to a problem that took them by surprise. A whole lot of distance ahead in this year's Taroko Gorge Marathon and the participants were already frustrated and complaining.
That’s all because the marathon’s water station didn’t seem to have enough water, stunning runners as they had just begun their race. Two small water tanks were placed as a temporary solution, creating long queues of people trying to quench their thirst.
One runner named Mr. Xu (徐) describes the situation, saying that the amount of drinking water was simply insufficient for the number of participants, making people agitated. He says that after some distance, they came across a stream and went to drink directly from it. However, rumor has it that some runners faced diarrhea after drinking the mountain water.
And that wasn't the only problem, several participants complained about receiving the wrong awards, getting medals for the five-km route when they, in fact, finished 21 kilometers. It seems this year’s event disappointed more than a few, with countless complaints on social media from people saying that this is the first time they encountered a marathon with such poor preparation.
Runners are left questioning what exactly the fees they were charged were used for, and have suggested its name should be changed to ‘Bad Marathon’. Apparently, the cause of the shortage was the water tank being closed improperly after runners filled their cups, so who is to blame?
In the end, the organizer personally apologized in a post and accepted the criticism promising an improvement next year.