Running News Daily

Police identify the man who poured rum into Mexico City Marathon water cups

In a wild video posted to social media, a man who does not appear on camera recorded himself as he poured white rum into sports drinks at a water station set up for participants at the Mexico City Marathon last Sunday. On Wednesday, the director of the Mexico City Institute of Sport, Javier Hidalgo Ponce, announced that police have identified the drink-spiker, who will likely face prosecution for attempted poisoning.

According to reports, the man was intoxicated, and spiked the drinks around 6 a.m. after leaving a nightclub. It is apparent in the video that he aimed to get the marathon runners drunk.

The water station was located near the halfway point on the course, when runners would have covered more than 21 km, and the consumption of undiluted alcohol combined with exertion could be dangerous. No runners drank the spiked drinks, since race volunteers who worked at the water station realized in time what had happened, and dumped out the alcohol.

Ponce blamed the incident on the Mexico City mayor’s office for allowing nightclubs to close so late. 

More than 19,000 runners participated in Sunday’s marathon. Kenya’s Edwin Kiptoo won the men’s event, completing the course in 2:10, and Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso won the women’s race in a course record time of 2:25