Originally published at: Man wins horse race | Boing Boing
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Oh, come on.
Seriously, though, humans are built for endurance, not speed. Our ancestors, obviously in better shape then I am, used to catch deer simply by running them to exhaustion.
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Though Mr. Lightfoot did have the considerable advantage of not having to carry an adult human on his back.
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This is why I’m surprised a human has only won 3 times. I’d have thought 22.5 miles was enough for the endurance to edge out speed.
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You were expecting a different Ricky, maybe?
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It looks like that distance is just about the point at which a fast human has a chance. The article doesn’t say, though, whether any of the other runners beat any of the slower horses.
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They coulda just dumped a pile of sugar cubes half way through the race, and given themselves an edge!
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I was going to point out that this was not the first win for a human.
Years ago, this was called Man v Horse v Bike.
Pushbike, that is. The horse won every time up until, as noted above, 2004.
If ever you get the chance to go to Llannutrid Wells (I have probably misspelled that), do so. It’s beautiful, and also the home of bog-snorkelling and other such ridiculous shenanigans.
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He averaged 6:17/mile. He’s an impressive runner, and has won a lot of stuff before.
The race has some pavement, some trails, a river crossing (or more than one?), & dirt roads, with 4500 feet of climbing.
There are a couple rules to try to even out the field, like mandatory dismount spots for the rides, and a rule what gait the horses can use on the pavement/macadam sections.
For comparison, the Boston marathon record pace stands at 4:46/ mile. of course, that’s a much flatter course. But humans are fast over long distance. The fastest long distance mammal!
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