What animal wins a race that's 100m in water then 100m on land

Penguins can swim up to 40 mph while chasing food

But then we have the moose, bear, alligator. Easily a tie between those four

The moose also has the Usain Bolt factor. All that swagger and bravado the moose brings prerace causes its competitors to have an "Asafa Powell performance" in the championship race.

Check out this presence... I just got the chills so bad that the sweat froze on my skin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Hf-6h7U64

I'd put my money on a pengiun provided the land portion was on snow/ice so the little fella could slide

Alas, I think we've already agreed that the land-portion of the contest would be held on a generic grass surface. So I think we'll have to rule out the penguins.

random wrote:

Has no one mentiond a dog? I have a lab/border collie cross. I'm a decent swimmer but my dog can out swim me and he'll run next to my truck at 40mph pretty easily.

Yea, I was thinking this too, especially a dog breed good a swimming. My first inclination was to check out the stats on Greyhounds who top out at like 45mph, but apparently they aren't too fond of water and aren't that great swimmers.

However, the Labrador Retriever is an excellent swimmer, one of the best out of all dog breeds. They have webbed paws, an otter-like tail and a water-resistant coat.

Also, we're talking about only 100 meters of swimming and running here. These are sprints people! As many people have mentioned acceleration is an important factor, as well as transitioning easily from water to land.

A labrador can accelerate to 12mph in under 3 seconds, which would be difficult for the other larger animals.

Also, one poster mentioned trainability, and if we took that into consideration, than the lab would likely win hands down.

Chuck Norris would kick all animals asses!

Broccoli Boy wrote:

However, the Labrador Retriever is an excellent swimmer, one of the best out of all dog breeds. They have webbed paws, an otter-like tail and a water-resistant coat.

That's one f'ed up labrador

Don't rule penguins out even on land. "Penguins usually waddle slowly. But when penguins are in a hurry, they can waddle for short distances as fast as a running human."

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/penguin-info.htm/printable

John Bingham wrote:

Don't rule penguins out even on land. "Penguins usually waddle slowly. But when penguins are in a hurry, they can waddle for short distances as fast as a running human."

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/penguin-info.htm/printable

Do you believe every rubbish article written on the internet?

Maybe they could keep up with you though?!

two words-Free Willy.

Secondly in my orca hypothesis I cannot stress enough the importannce that training will play -all important will be the transitional landing phase when as smooth and horizontal a landing as possible will have to be made so as to lose as little forward motion as possible.Should this go any further I have Jonathan Edwards in mind as a coach for this 2 phase land section of the race and the initial reaction from his people has been very encouraging.

There are penguins that don't live in icy habitats you know. They would manage grass quite well.

We need youtube footage of penguins hi speed waddling.

Obvious answer: The Sail Fish. It can swim 70 mph, then hit the start of the 100 on the land and crush it from there. Regardless of surface type. Combined time: too fast to time.

ESPN-2 had the hypothetical prelims for the World Animal Biathlon. They had three prelims and the winner of each would go on the finals. The course was beautiful. It consisted of a 100 meter (deep water)pond adjacent to a 100 meter well mowed grass field. Since it was a hypothetical, none of the animals needed to be trained, and they were all excited to be there and to race against the very best.

As I remember the first prelim had a hippo, polar bear and lab retriever competing. Surprisingly the lab had a fast reaction time, got in the water fast and was actually leading with about 20 meters into the swim. The polar bear caught lab at the 20 meter mark and polar's long powerful swimming strokes with those huge paws quickly over took lab and finished the swim portion well ahead of both lab and hippo. Hippo had trouble getting its speed up but finally caught up with lab and passed it with ten meters left in the swim.

Polar bear, with his fast sprint, was so far ahead he shut it down with 25 meters left in the run and actually stood on his hind legs with a meter to go and waved his big paw to the crowd as he walked over the finish line. (Lab retook 2nd place from hippo during the run - hippo was gassed)

Second prelim included seal, river otter and the black mamba.

Third prelim included moose, tiger, and pronghorn.

more results later.

I think we may all be seriously underestimating the penguin.

It could dominate the swim, and it might just have enough of a lead to make it on the run...

These things are moving pretty good here:

on ice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYMgPnFAIt4

and on rocks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmOjZgcPmhE&feature=related

after seeing the 2nd one, I don't think the grass would be a problem.

Some penguins can swim over 40mph...So there lead would be killer out of the pool.

I mean we are talking like 5-6seconds or so out of the pool...

If, according to the earlier calculations, the winner will take about 35sec to do the whole thing. Then the penguin has 30sec to make it 100m...

That's only 8min mile pace

This is my favorite thread ever. I'd like to rename it the Dwight Schrute Memorial Thread, because it has a very Dwight feel to it.

40mph is too fast for a penguin. Gentoos top out at about 22mph. The sea lion can burst 25mph.

Between a deer and a croc

Otter - not as fast as swimmer as you would think

Hippo - same + possible DQ

Cheetah - too slow in the water

Polar bear - similar swim speed to deer, slower on land

Croc - could win if it maintained its short burst speed but poor speed endurance

Deer - good swim speed 6mph+ 2nd only to a Cheetah on land

Deer to win the animal duathlon - providing its not in the swim lane next to the croc!

If this race ever really does happen and the penguin wins, then every single one of us has to kiss John Bingham's a**