History made as man beats horse in race

??? So horses don't have much endurance? What are they feeding these horses? Big Macs?

i can't really figure it out either. considering the top speed of even average horses, i don't see how this could ever happen over 22 miles. these must be mightly crap horses they're racing.

Horses probably suck, relatively speaking, on long hilly courses, which it sounds like this one was (over 5:30/mile wins).

Paula could probably bury both the guy and all the horses.

It's possible to beat a horse in that race, because the horses have several stops where they have to rest for several minutes! But the runner can continue his race!

I once outsprinted John Holmes over a distance of 200 meters so I could be first in line at a Long Beach coke dealership. Does that count?

No, horses actually have excellent endurance, at least, certain types do. If he was racing Arabian horses, then this is indeed a great feat as Arabians have the greatest speed + endurance of any creature. Now, if he was racing Quarter horses (so named for their speed over the 1/4 mile)

then he has little to be proud of.

The guy who won, Huw Lobb, is a fairly good runner with PBs of 64:51 for the half and 2:18:29 for the marathon.

broempie wrote:

It's possible to beat a horse in that race, because the horses have several stops where they have to rest for several minutes! But the runner can continue his race!

so the horses have to stop? is this mandated by the race or something? horses (of the right sort) should be able to go for at least a few hours. and even if they did have to stop for a few moments to grab some water or something, they should have enough of a lead over a person to be able to do so.

This prooves nothing!!!

Keep in mind:

us horses have to carry a rider;

you make us run wearing iron shoes;

there is no prize money for us so none of our best horses show up for a little race in Wales, let's see you next year at Grand Nationals or the Kentucky Derby!!;

you humans set the distance, course, and are the judges ... very fair ... like making us run past the apple orchard was just a coincidence??;

let's see you run 22 miles with an iron bit in your mouth;

you get Clif bars and Gatorade at your rest stops, we have to munch on grass and drink stale puddle water or hosewater if we're really lucky;

nobody cheers for us;

it's not like we trained for this race;

we're still 24-1 and hold the course record, not bad considering you never told us we were actually racing until now;

Just wait till next year!!!

- Mister Ed

If I am not mistaken they run a Western States 100 race for horses on the exact same course that they do for people. Surprisingly, the times are not that different. I can't quote stats or times, but I remember being surprised that the horses are not really that much faster.

Click the link and scroll down. There's a picture. It looks like a narrow, hilly, winding path. If the rest of the race is anything like that, its not so hard to believe. That ain't no horsetrack. Imagine letting a horse loose on a typical European XC course. He'd go nowhere fast and DNF.

I grew up near where the race is held and it's certainly hilly and difficult going. You wouldn't be riding thoroughbreds over it.

look at the people in Cow costumes.

I heard that horse was on EPO.

I thought Hugh had done 2:15 this year at London. He is a class runner.

I was so wrapped up in commenting on the course that I didn't notice the people in cow costumes. That's about the funniest thing I've seen all week. Thanks.

The horses must stop to receive veterinary checkups. Horses don't always stop when they're exhausted and so to keep the riders from riding their horses to death, vet checks are required throughout the course.

Humans have a special chlorine channel, the "Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator". It allows people to dilute their sweat when used in conjuction with a sodium pump. The sodium pump pulls sodium out of sweat glands (active transport), then the chlorine follows it down its electrochemical gradient (passive transport).

Horses are not as good at diluting their sweat as humans, so they quickly lose electrolytes when they sweat. It is kind of like a person with cystic fibrosis. People with cystic fibrosis have salty skin and are not very good marathoners. They frequently have bigger problems than that, though.

Anyway, this article (linked below) indicates horses are able to adapt to this effect over time.

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/87/5/1843#SEC2

The humans also get a head start, 1 or 2 hours I think, though I am not totally sure.