Is the time lost in a race stopping to take a drink/walking with it recovered by the end of the race?

Hope you get what a I mean!

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I need a break!

I never stop.

I just spill it down me................

Stupid plastic cups.......

I don't stop either..grab the cup, spill half of it, slurp a bit and throw rest over my head.
Would a stop though to take the drink on board be worth the lost 10 secs?

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I need a break!

With all the gasping and panting I do while running nowadays, I have to drop down to a slow walk while drinking. In the Derwentwater 10 last weekend I definitely lost places by stopping to drink at 5 miles, and got passed and beaten by someone who'd never beaten me before.
Having said that, in the London marathon, where bottles of water were supplied, as opposed to cups, I could manage to drink while running and never lost places.
Cheers!

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Give me the hills!

I think what would be a more reasonable comparison (and perhaps what Steve was implying) is whether it would be beneficial to stop and take a drink or to continue straight through a drinks station without taking a drink at all...

In which case i'd say it very much depended on your time running and also weather conditions. As we all know dehydration is baaaaaaaaaaaaad, and even slight dehydration can have a large impact on performance. For me though I certainly won't bother drinking anything during a 10k (or less) and only drink perhaps at one drinks station on a HM (unless it's hotter). In either case I never stop to drink, I do my best to drink as much as possible form the plastic cups. As runningfox says, it's a darn sight easier when bottles are on offer!

It may be biased to say it, but I think the lesser fit people may benefit more from stopping to drink, not only from taking on the fluids but the chance for a quick breather too, as you get higher and higher up the field, it'll become harder and harder to pull back those elusive seconds lost by stopping for water.

My 2p's worth anyhow

depends how long the race is.

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I think I might stop quite often to drink if I ran races as long as yours ed........

it depends on what you're drinking out of. cups cause more problems than it's worth. I cough and splutter all over the place when ever I do this. I reckon it cost me a good 1/2 hour or so when I ran my last half. I'm sure I would have won the race instead of coming in in the hundreds.

Also it depends on who your drinking with!

After a bit of practice, I can manage to drink out of a plastic cup without spilling too much, by holding the top shut with my fingers and leaving a small gap to drink out of.

At the Monlands half marathon this year, they handed out bottles off water with the sports caps on them, which made it so easy to drink - you didn't even half to worry about taking the lid off of it.

I stopped for a drink and to sort myself out at Chichester, I wasn't running well at all and felt like pulling up. But after getting myself together I decided to catch the bloke up who I had been behind before with the 'Are we nearly there yet' T-shirt on. I did this, and felt chuffed with myself, but after time went on, I looked down and realised he had different trainers on, in fact totally different bloke, but same T-shirt! oh well I tried. Never saw the other chap again, and of course if I hadn't stopped I might have overtaken him! won't ever know.