The Horse vs. Man Marathon
There aren't too many sports where humans compete directly against animals. Humans do compete with animals in certain sports - the best example being horse racing. But a new type of horse racing has emerged; a man versus a horse in a race. There are people out there that are willing to race against horses in marathon races to beat them and come out as winners. There must be a point to racing against a horse in a marathon; it can’t simply be because a person feels like racing against an animal. We should explore this craziness and find out why some people actively pursue racing against horses.
How does something as crazy as this race get started, the article that featured this story gives us its origin. “Originally staged to settle a bar-room debate as to which is faster over a long distance, the Man vs. Horse Marathon in Llanwrtyd Wells is now in its 30th year. On Saturday, up to 50 horses and their riders and hundreds of runners are expected on the starting line, all hoping to win the 1,000 guinea (£1,050) first prize”.
The fact that this odd race has been going on for 30 years is amazing. The way it started gives us a clue to the fact that people in pubs have way too much time on their hands. But something like idle time brought about a very interesting activity that has stood the test of time and has been going on for the last three decades. It could be easily understood why it is popular amongst viewers, because who wouldn't want to watch a person racing against a horse to see who was faster. But why will a person want to compete in something so strange, maybe it is a chance for runners to get some practice in before a proper marathon, or it could be the fact that some runners want to prove that they are actually faster than a horse and show people that they can beat one in a race.
This seems like a crazy race that would always have a clear winner; the horse, for the simple reason that they are much faster than humans. But with changes to the track and evening out of the terrain, it became a much more balanced contest. The thing is that horses are very good at sprinting and humans are very good at running over long distances. “Although the first couple of races saw easy victories for the horse, the course was eventually altered make it a more even match - and the humans caught up. If the ground is rough going, you'd expect a human to cover it at a more or less consistent pace. But the horse has to slow down on a steep hill”.
It was such a big change in the course that two people actually beat the horses they were running against and came first. It just shows that if a course is balanced, then a race between a horse and a man becomes a much closer contest. More and more people hope that they can become one of those elusive two men who can beat an extremely fast animal and win the coveted horse versus man race.
Will this lead to more animal versus human race in the future? Will we see humans versus dogs soon? That contest will be even more unbalanced than the man versus horse race because dogs are very fast animals that have the ability to run over uneven ground and they don’t overheat as much as horses do. People will have to come up with innovative ways to even the playing field and make it a more balanced contest for the humans. We humans shouldn't be underestimated in our abilities to overcome odds though. If we can beat horses we can beat dogs at a race too. What would be interesting to see would be a horse racing against Usain Bolt in a 100 metre race? Now that would be a test of skill and speed.
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