{"id":2072,"date":"2022-05-05T12:50:19","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T12:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raceid.com\/organizer\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2022-12-15T20:41:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T18:41:55","slug":"what-food-and-drinks-do-participants-want-at-energy-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raceid.com\/organizer\/sustainability\/what-food-and-drinks-do-participants-want-at-energy-stations\/","title":{"rendered":"What Food And Drinks Do Participants Want at Energy Stations?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you host a medium to long race, an essential part of the planning of the race usually includes fuelling your participants. What should you offer them? What food and drinks will keep them satisfied, fuelled and strong to finish your challenging course? In this article, you’ll find out what participants prefer and also some good pointers on how to keep your aid stations sustainable and easy to manage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Participants Prefer To Get Served At Energy Stations\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In a recent survey with over 600 race participants, we asked the question, \u201cWhat food and drinks do you prefer on the race course aid stations?\u201d. You can see the result below. Participants could choose several options by clicking checkboxes. A total of 624 participants were asked in the survey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

Most participants want water and sports drinks to stay hydrated – water was rated slightly higher than sports drinks. On the fuelling side, gels was the most popular selection, closely followed by fruit and bars. It seems the sweet treats are preferred over salty, as chewy candy was slightly more popular than savory choices such as sandwiches, chips, pickles and nuts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If I think from my athlete perspective, you really appreciate if there are both sweet and salty\/savory options to choose from. I loved to see pickles on a bike race I did in Sweden, and I also appreciate when I can choose \u201creal food\u201d items such as nut bars, dried fruit bars or cut-up fruit like bananas. As a racers, you often start with sweet options as these food items usually contain high sugar that can be absorbed quickly by the body. Towards the end of the race however, you easily get tired of that constant sweet taste in your mouth and just long to brush your teeth! You also start to crave more salty foods like chips, pickles or broth (if it is cold). As you get tired, salty craving usually has a scientific basis as your body is losing salts and minerals – ingesting that sodium (and if possible, also potassium and magnesium from a sports drink) will help a lot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is however hard to cater to every racers personal preference, and you have other things to think about as a race organizer. The food you serve at the aid stations should be:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n