London Marathon replaces plastic water bottles with edible seaweed pods

Competitors grab edible seaweed capsules during the Vitality Big Half on March 10 in London. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images for Lucozade Sport)

Organizers of Sunday’s London Marathon made edible seaweed pods available to runners to cut down on plastic water bottles.

Volunteers handed out more than 30,000 of the edible Ooho seaweed pods at the Lucozade Sport station at Mile 23.

London-based startup Skipping Rocks Lab made the pods, which are tasteless, and if not consumed designed to break down within six weeks, CBS News reported.

The pods can be filled with a variety of liquids, but the ones provided Sunday were filled with Lucozade Sport, an electrolyte drink, according to CBS.

Organizers said Sunday marked the largest-ever trial of the pods and followed a successful trial in March at the Vitality Big Half-Marathon in London.

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Edible water bottles made their appearace at a half-marathon last September in Harrow, a London suburb.

Lucy Ashe, winner of the Harrow race, told the BBC that the pods offered the "perfect amount of water that you need to take in a race."

Men's race first place winner Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, center, poses with second place winner Ethiopia's Mosinet Geremew, left, and third place winner Ethiopia's Mule Wasihun at the 39th London Marathon in London, Sunday, April 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

After last year’s London Marathon, trash collectors picked up about 47,000 discarded plastic bottles, the BBC reported.

The London Marathon took other steps to make this year's race more green, including reducing the number of drink stations from 26 to 19, according to the BBC.

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Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won the 26.2 mile event for a record fourth time Sunday in the second-fastest time ever. His compatriot Brigid Kosgei swept to victory by almost 2 minutes in the women's race.

Kipchoge, who pulled clear in the final 10 minutes, completed the course in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 37 seconds on a blustery day.

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Only he has run a marathon quicker than that, when breaking the world record in Berlin in September in a time of 2:01:39.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.