..... they didn't even have water left on the course itself. Which would have been fine, but it was 80 degrees out and there were lots of walkers, families and people with special needs on the course.

Simply NO excuse at all for ever running out of water. Certainly could make it challenging for some to finish a race if resources like Sports drinks/gels run low but exercising without water, especially in hot/humid conditions could be very dangerous.

Water is cheap and there should be a much larger supply than you could possibly ever need.

I am slowly edging out of the back of the pack...right now I am probably pretty solid back of the middle? Lol. But. My very first long distance race, when I finished there was only water left. No gatorade or snacks. I was too excited to realize what a fail that was, because I was way undertrained (and didn't know it, but looking back now I know it). At my first half they ran out of water at the last two aid stations. There were bagels and water left after the race at least though.

A more experience runner now than I was then, I would be very upset to get shorted at the end of a tough race. So I feel very badly for the people who finished and got no food.

I will admit, I have taken handfuls of stuff at races, like a couple granola bars or fruit snacks or whatever, but usually if I do it's because I'm eating it there. That is more typically true at my trail races, where I will grab a couple packs of whatever but these are usually smaller races where they are attentive to put on a really good spread and people hang around for a while. I don't think I'd do that at a bigger race with tons of finishers - the trail races usually have about the same amount of racers each time so they're very experienced with what they need and typically end up with lots of extra (which they rollover to the next race).