I think there is a clear difference in that suppoort in a Marathon is standard. He raced, comepted, and won within the standard.
I am only asking opinions. There clearly is no standard in this realm, or is there? Is it an alpine pursuit? Or a road race? Maybe neither?
support in ultra-marathons is pretty standard too. for the wonderland trail there is no set race obviously. but support for longdistance events is pretty standard. only when support is NOT used is it noteworthy (example: marathon du sables).