Which animal could run the fastest marathon?

Not questioning, but how many cars could maintain 115 km/h across rough terrain in 1931?

So: Ostrich is a good candidate, but wondering what its sustainable long-dist speed might be.

Duh

Cheetah vs Ostrich (does not end well for the ostrich) but damn those things are fast and the video is pretty damn funny too...

Results from 2008, North American Sled Dog (sprint) Championships

28 miles

21 Egil Ellis 11-2 18 (93:09.7)

20 Buddy Streeper 13-2 15 (93:04.3)

19 Ken Chezik 11-2 19 (98:26.4)

for the leaders that's 3:20/mile, or 1:25-1:26 for the marathon.

And that's pulling a packsled and a hefty Alaskan; PLUS all the harness and tack. Oh, and across snow.

Impressive.

ostrich fan wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aFnETc1kwM

Cheetah vs Ostrich (does not end well for the ostrich) but damn those things are fast and the video is pretty damn funny too...

OK, that was pretty cool. Damn, it didn't end well for the camera crew either. Is that phtographer still alive? How the hell did they drive that fast across open plains in a Vanagon for that long before rolling over?

I still say over 26 miles that a hyena could probably walk down an ostrich and run it to death.

A Pronghorn could break an hour if it could train minimalist with a Summer Of malmo. Also it would have to figure out the meaning of mentallity > physicallity

While I think that there is no question that dogs are the greatest ultramarthoners (distances greater than a 'thon) on the planet I would agree with the pronghorn theory for 26.2 miles. I believe that they were tested in a lab several years ago and were found to have the greatest aerobic capacity on earth. I’m guessing they would run about 49 minutes.

A great race to watch would be a pronghorn vs the a Wild Dog of Africa. As soon as the pronghorn crossed the finish line and was talking to reporters the Wild Dog would come flying up and rip his throat out...

With all the problems with chip timing and elite starts I wonder how they would divvy up the prize money after that happened.

Also, if we can include nautical miles, then I would vote for the Blue Marlin.

Hunh wrote:

So: Ostrich is a good candidate, but wondering what its sustainable long-dist speed might be.

Hmmm seen several mentions of them being able to run 30-40mph for 20-30 minutes. So they may have to stick with the half marathon.

Still, throw some gallowalking breaks in there and I still say the Ostrich could get a solid 1:15 finish...

..and Brian, yeah that camera man had to be hurting!

So far we have:

Horse

Pronghorned Antelope

iditarot Dog

Camel

Osterich

Hyena

Human

ostrich fan wrote:

An ostrich may not win, but with top speeds of 70km/hr and sustained speeds of 50km/hr, it definitely should qualify for the elite start.

I would say finishing in the 1-1:15 range.

Ostrich, or llama?

"Stupid Llamas!"

"The full grown male african ostrich or the latin "struthio camelus" can go to an average size of sixty six inches...... and weight anywhere from 225 to 350 pounds that can get up to...... well an average speed of...... 27 miles per hour."

an interesting thing about that article was that it claimed that the average chase distance of a cheetah was 3 miles at just under 70 mph. That is much farther than the standard idea that I have heard. That seems perhaps a bit far?, but I also always thought that "cheetahs get tired after a quarter mile" was also exaggerated- that is around 12-15 seconds and a lot of those chases have to last longer than that esp when the prey is capable of 50+ mph as well.

Also there was some discussion of the greyhounds gait at top speed and its stride pattern etc and how much the legs are off the ground. I have a picture of a cheetah at high speed fully stretched out and airborne- im not sure what these animals does is restricted to running its more like skimming- not quite flying but getting there- maybe ground aided flying.

Btw this is off the marathon topic so I too will go with the pronghorn for that- in the bernd henrich book it says that a pronghorn has been reliably observed to have run 7 miles in 10 minutes. If you extrapolate that with slowing from 10k pace to marathon pace which is not that much percentage wise that is a very fast time.

Lantermanc wrote:

"The full grown male african ostrich or the latin "struthio camelus" can go to an average size of sixty six inches...... and weight anywhere from 225 to 350 pounds that can get up to...... well an average speed of...... 27 miles per hour."

Exact ostrich speed seems to vary quite a bit across sources, but I have seen several sources suggesting that they run faster than that:

"Fastest running bird: ostrich at 97.5 km/h (60 mph)"

The Bird Almanac By David Michael Bird, 2004. p. 71.

"The ostrich is the largest of the ratites and is also the largest bird in existence. Mature ostriches are seven to nine feet 2.1-2.7 m) in height and weigh from 200 to 350 pounds (91-159 kg); males are generally larger than females. The ostrich is capable of running at speeds of up to 30-50 miles per hour (48-80 km/h) for up to 30 minutes. The length of its stride is from 15 to over 20 feet (4.5-6 m), depending on its size."

Modern Livestock & Poultry Production By James R. Gillespie, 2003. p. 880.

Definately the pronghorned antelope. It has the highest max vo2 of any land animal.

According to the Wikipedia entry for "pony express," horses can only travel 10 miles at a full gallop. (Pony Express riders changed horses every 10 miles; those were the "stages" or staging points for the leap from horse to horse.)

What about a horse at something under a full gallop?

The North American Wild Sell has been known to cover upwards of 160 miles a week while barely breaking a sweat.

Once one was spotted sprinting down a greenway path at greater than 12 miles per hour after having already run for nearly 2 hours.

Surely this species is a candidate for the fastest marathon animal.

A Human, the rest have issues following the course

Only one way to know:

Break out Noah's Ark, scoop up all the animals, line 'em up and let 'em go.