Road race etiquette

Cool, I hear you. I don't have any problems getting beat by women. I mean, I'm looking to run around 1:10 which is pretty solid and should put me in the top 20-25 of the entire race. Certainly no shame in that. Sure, I'll probably lose to a few of the top women, but so will the majority of other male runners in the race. I was fairly successful in college, so the fact that some of the best female runners in the world are probably going to crush me is not a problem.

That was sweet! I ran that girl down like she was standing still. Got a great finish line photo - and made her cry, which made my day!

I was often in similar situations...with similar times. Found myself (not purposely) leading the pack of 3 or 4 elite females in both Parkersburg and Philly 1/2's. Nobody will have a problem with it as long as you don't start talking, coaching, pacing....but it sucks when they drop you and your friends who see it on Running and Racing call and bust your chops.

lol that's why I want to run fast in this race. See them cry.

David Katz wrote:...Technically she is not in the same race as you (men's and women's divisions). You can hand another male runner water and even communicate with him but you can't with a female runner...

Thanks for the info David, always appreciate your insights. Do you have any reference for the rule you note above? The reason I ask is I always thought if a race didn't have separate mens and womens starts (like Boston and NYC do with their elite women for example) then it was fine to share a cup of water, pacing, etc, between genders. In that situation (same start for all competitors) all competitors would be competing for places 1-nnn in those race results. Any breakdown in awards/prizes between male/female competitors doesn't seem any different to me than a breakdown within each gender for age group divisions. Using that logic, if one can share a cup of water with someone of the same gender but in a different age group division wouldn't it make sense that one can share a cup of water with someone of another gender?

In the case of a separate start, whether it be by gender, or any sort of wave start (like Boston does with their faster wave and slower wave based on qualification times), I would agree that sharing resources with someone who is essentially running in a different race (i.e. different start time) than you should be against the rules.

I have a reference for you: Look it up yourself.

I've only had two instances where etiquette was broken, but it was pretty annoying. The first was a situation where a man outkicked me at the end and broke the tape that was intended for the 1st woman runner (me) and another time when I was the 1st woman and had about 1/4 mile left, was starting my kick, and a man asked me where the finish was. When I wouldn't answer he started yelling the question at me.

Hitmonlee wrote:

Run behind them. Let them do all the work pushing wind then sprint fast the last 400 to overtake them with your muscular man legs.

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Yes. The view from behind is usually quite nice.

937; wrote:

Worst I've seen was in a small local race as the top woman was finishing a guy put on a big kick and passed her just before the line and broke the tape they had pulled out for her.

BOSS.

Awesome! Doing this is now on my bucket list.