I don't see the point of the Championship meets if all they try to do is go for the win?

It sounds like you have based your worth and everything you have done with running on how fast you run in comparison to other people. But I guess that's what sports is. There is no good moral purpose behind trying to beat someone else in a sport.

Oh snap! He got you there you muther.

Sorry, but both my parents have already died. Since they reached the 'finish line' first, I guess they 'won'.

The problem with this entire post is the Running Times is confusing Racing with Time Trialing/Fast Times.

Sometimes you win.

Sometimes you get a fast time.

On rare occasions you get both.

Sometimes you get just one, but not the other.

And the reality (based on my 50+ years of running and racing) is most of the time you get neither, but keep trying.

That is literally the point of sports. I hope you're a troll, because I would hate to think that you're that stupid.

0/10

Tactical races do seem to be unique to running. In swimming you never see competitors go out really slow in an 800m race and then everyone kicking in the last 50m. Maybe they would if everyone could see each other. But is there any other sporting competition where athletes don't go all out for part of the event and wait until near the end to try and win? Cycling? XC skiing? What other sporting event is the equivalent of the 1500 in Rio in terms of waiting until the last 400 to really race.

I know, there's no real purpose behind. No troll here.

10/10

That's the point I'm making. It looks stupid out there on the track. They are just trying to beat one another to the finish line for no reason and in the process not even running as fast as they can. I can see a purpose behind running as fast as you can to reach your capabilities, but to try to beat others is being insecure and really just a waste of mental/physical effort. Working together to reach your capabilities is different and running with someone. But feeling better about yourself because you beat someone else or even just trying to beat someone else just doesn't make sense to me why anyone who is confident and secure in themselves would or who has a sense of morals and real purpose.

I was saying that racing against others has no positive purpose. If you are pushing each other to your best time that's different. "Winners" and "losers" don't matter. I meant that if you have someone you are close with, would you try to beat them in a race? If you wouldn't, then why would you against anyone else?

To keep the prize money out of their stinking hands

OP is absolutely correct and the mob of drooling fools trying to vote it down are a mob of drooling fools.

It is not remotely interesting who is in the best position, or the best tactics. Even if they weren't going slow, it's just not interesting. If I wanted to see who was good at weaving through traffic I'd watch football, which I do.

Track races are supposed to be about who runs fastest, and this pacts to go slow most of the way make the sport look terrible. You may not realize it, but normal people laugh at that and change the channel. There's a reason a commentator has to always say "oh it's tactical" to try to explain it to them.

And then, how "tactical" even is it? There's very little intelligent tactics possible. Most runners who end up in a decent position at the bell are either A) lucky or B) in way better shape and can spare a bit of extra effort to surge their way up from 500 to 400 out. Neither of those is "tactics."

No it’s about having the best time. Literally as long as you had fun.

That is the point

Agree for a certain part. Watching the 800m and on, most of the time I end up thinking; that was tactically SO bad, by all of them! Luckily, to make up the frustration, it mostly finishes with an unpredictable race. Primitive as f**k

Racing is about winning. Do you think they cared about time when racing first started and they raced from one church in one town to another? (Churches have steeples, hence they were steeplechases).

Pure racing is beautiful and fun.

On the old wooden how ever many laps to the mile indoor tracks it was impossible to run a fast time, so we reveled in the race to be the first across the line.

And as they're "jogging" they're fighting for position to be in the right spot when the final move is made.

Anywhere where there is an element of drafting will see "tactical" racing (or, at any rate, racing where there is more to it than simply pacing yourself to the best time possible)

Swimming is basically a lot of simultaneous time trials.

Open water swimming / triathlon less so as they race in a pack and there is a drafting effect.

Track cycling sprint events are about as tactical as any racing gets.

The reason this happens is because A/ there isn't space on the track for everyone to run on the inside at the pace they want to and B/ someone always has to be in the lead and, therefore, everyone behind is at an advantage because of drafting.

Hence, we get "tactics" (i.e. the most basic racing tactic possible which is to avoid being in the lead). And one thing leads to another and there we are. Unless you're significantly stronger than everyone else (e.g. perhaps a couple of seconds over a 1500m) frontrunning is pointless and you will lose.

Some people might regard you as brave. The rest will see you as stupid.