What would the running equivalent of the Tour de France be?

The Prefontaine Classic in Track Town USA is similar to the TDF. Both are more prestigious than the Olympics by leaps and bounds. People easily forget who won the Olympics only after one or two weekends. The same people though can recall forever who won events at the Prefontaine Classic.

Former Cyclist Now Runner:

Your attitude is exactly the attitude that drove the impressario of the Bunion Derby in 1928. You've got a feel for the Big Spectacle.

If there's somebody out there with a dream and a dollar--a dream and big bucks, I mean--they should do this.

In 1928, Charles Pyle, the promoter, had this idea that if you could route a transcontinental footrace by way of the brand-new Route 66--the LA to Chicago leg--you could get buy-in from every town that new highway passed through. It didn't work out quite as well as he'd hoped. But it worked out.

Your idea is a great one. Somebody should do this. Red Bull is a great idea. If Letsrun has its s--t together, they'll jump on this early.

Star wrote:

Right now the closest thing is a decathlon.

You could try to put on a three week, every day running event.

I think Michael Wardian would be the champ.

Tough to pound your legs on consecutive days.

Yeah, steroids and EPO will help with that.

The Tour de Rhode Island

C.C. Pyle organized multi-stage running races across the United States in 1928 and '29.

There can be no running equivalent. A lot of people have been saying "make it a half marathon per day" or whatever. The problem is that there are no sub-specialties in long distance racing. The Tour de France has sprinters, climbers, GC guys, domestiques, and even a few time trialists. They all have different roles and each type has its own moments of prominence during the 3-week race. In contrast, there is no "sprinter" marathoner or "climber" marathoner. They are all simply "marathoners". Role specialization among riders allows each stage of the Tour to be a distinct, different competition, and long distance running is too narrow of a sport to accommodate that. It would just be the same race repeated day after day.

Really guys? wrote:

There can be no running equivalent. A lot of people have been saying "make it a half marathon per day" or whatever. The problem is that there are no sub-specialties in long distance racing. The Tour de France has sprinters, climbers, GC guys, domestiques, and even a few time trialists. They all have different roles and each type has its own moments of prominence during the 3-week race. In contrast, there is no "sprinter" marathoner or "climber" marathoner. They are all simply "marathoners". Role specialization among riders allows each stage of the Tour to be a distinct, different competition, and long distance running is too narrow of a sport to accommodate that. It would just be the same race repeated day after day.

Your concern is one that is had by many, but it's misplaced.

Look at the distances that would be covered once again. It ranges from 2K to 32K. There are flat races. Hilly races. Mountain races. And wind!

Looking at the prize structure, you can see that it pays to win stages. But who can possibly win stage after stage while running? Nobody, that's who. You've got it all wrong. In fact, runners as a whole have it all wrong. To start with, there are no sprinters in the tour de france. There are guys who sprint at the end of the stage, but they are not sprinters like a 100-200 meter guy is in Track. The sprinters you see in the Tour are equivalent to 800 meter runners.

100-200 meter runners equivalent do not even compete outside. They are on the track. They are the Chris Hoy's and Jamie Staffs. Monsters of men. And they look a lot like 100-200 guys do in track. They would not survive this sort of race.

The Peter Sagan types are your 800-1500 meter runners. Theo Bos is like a 400 runner turned into an 800 runner due to there being more prize money in the 800. Your typical 400 runner can not make it in this race, but your 800 guys could.

Your favorite would likely be a 5K specialist. In a Tour de Rift setting you'd see a lot more guys have range like Mo Farah than you previous thought. They just can't get into big races in all the different distances, or rather, they can't afford to take those chances. But if it was in a race, you'd see a lot of molds being broken. On days nobody wanted to be the effective rabbit into a wind, it would be a slow race where an 800 guy could sit on 5:00 pace for 12 miles before things ramped up the last 1500 meters. If enough money is on the line, you know Rudisha in his prime can knock out 12 miles at 5:00 pace and close the last 800 in under 1:50 still. And so, he does this race with his eye on just one or maybe two stage wins, because that would net him $250K!

That's how it works. You win a stage of the Tour and your next several season ARE MADE! If you had the same prize structure and prestige of beating every major name in the world, every professional from 800 meters up would want to be in this race. Some would know they couldn't finish it, but they'd want to start it at the very least.

Can you imagine a race with the top 200 runners in the world from 800 through the marathon? It would be so so incredible. The different "specialties" (which is a total hoax if you understand physiology) have really killed off the great competitions in distance running. The talent is spread too thin. Put the best talent together and then you will see who the true greatest distance runner in the world is.

And then you can begin to understand what the yellow jersey represents.

There is a reason the Olympics is nothing compared to the Grand Tours: not enough drama and suffering.

Now imagine an event in running that makes the Olympics look like the Pre Classic currently does. It's prestigious to win the Pre meet, but a few weeks later nobody really cares.

The spectacle viewed from above via a drone: The competitors racing along looking serene, while the crowds on either side look like they are running for their lives trying to keep. It would appear as a double-wave of spectators "breaking" into the sort of white wash that would be the actual competitors.

It's so raw to run. Everyone can relate to it. Not everyone can relate to a bike. And a running race like this would have the history of our DNA in it: I rather think it would remind us of a human migration from thousands of years ago.

The Sun Life Great Race 1990 from Glasgow-London over 20 days + 2 rest days was uploaded to Youtube a few years ago.

That seems interesting. Most stage races today have fewer stages, making them more suited to ultra runners than distance guys.

Yep. No single stage was longer than 17 miles. It would be interesting to watch contemporary road runners undertake a similar challenge today. I'd imagine it will be hard to convince any pros without significant cash on offer.

Love the KOM competition and some attempts at tactical racing.

I remember reading in one of the running magazines about a stage race in France over one week. Some world class runners ran.

I can't remember the stages but they were of various distances.