How many racers have never won a race?

I didn't win a race this year. Getting harder to do in my 50s.

Its generally a sport of losers. I think 2% sounds low among “racers” and too high based on the general population...

It's much easier to win track races, since dual meets have much less competition, and a JV or frosh/soph division eliminates a lot of the competition. I won two f/s 3200s at invitationals/county champs and one varsity dual meet that way. Sometimes the fast freshmen and sophomores run varsity, or the other team sucks and the coach puts your team's fast guys in the mile, and you win.

Fast forward 30 years. I've won 2 5Ks in the last couple years. If a big race has a HM, 10K, and 5K, usually the faster guys get sucked into the HM, leaving the other races (relatively) wide open. Or a charity 5K is small enough that no other serious runner shows up. If you can break 21 and haven't won a 5K, all it means is that you haven't run many little-known charity 5Ks in small towns. If you really want to win, you just need to think smaller. But before long you realize that being in a more competitive race is more interesting than actually winning a race by yourself.

So why dont ya kill me wrote:

What percentage of people who run races have never won a race?

Do you really expect someone to have this stat at the ready?

why ask? wrote:

So why dont ya kill me wrote:

What percentage of people who run races have never won a race?

Do you really expect someone to have this stat at the ready?

I don’t not expect anyone to have an answer on the ready. If we only asked questions someone already knew the answer to, the collective we would never learn.

*dont expect

So why dont ya kill me said: What percentage of people who run races have never won a race?

I'm not claiming that this is exactly the answer to the question that you asked, but...

I have a database with 11,000 athletes on it. it includes only men, and only middle distance track races (400m to 10,000m). to be included on my database you have to have appeared in the final of a national championship, run in any round of the Olympic games, World Championships, European championships, or set a record of some kind. or you are interesting to me in some other way. I have over 80,000 race results in my database.

of those 11,000 athletes, only 4,057 of them have won a race (not including heats or qualifying rounds). so that's 63% of really good athletes don't win races of the sort that I record.

cheers.

I'd say over 99%.

I mean I'm top end of hobbyjogger field, often finishing in top 1%. However I haven't ever won one, best results was 2nd in age group in a local race, only because it had separate 30-34 age group. Club runners would usually show up to local races and at least some would race seriously and outclass me easily. Larger races are won by elites or very lucky sub-elites.

I have it there in my list of running goals to reach before I turn 40: pick a race I have chances of winning and win it, right there next to qualifying to Fukuoka.

If you can run a Sub 20 5k, it's not hard for you to win a race if you want.

I have won overall but rarely, and have won numerous Masters.

5% have won a race at some point in their life.

I've won a 75 mile ultra this year. I think it was my terrifying hobby hiking speed that did it of course.

In high school I won maybe two races.

After high school I didn't run in college and it's debatable whether I improved any, yet I won several races. If you run locally there are so many 5Ks that over the years just being a sub-20 runner means you have a real chance of winning an occasional 5K. Once you are in sub-19 shape on the local level you are almost guaranteed to be top 5 every race. This isn't true in running towns, but it is everywhere else. In my area there is only one guy who regularly shows up to races that can run in the 16s. A few other rotating young guys can, but it depends whether they are home from college or have conflicts with their high school meet schedules.

Running participation suffers great attrition after high school and adults typically struggle to get their times down as well as youngsters do. If you are on the varsity or A team at your high school and choose to make running a lifetime sport/hobby, odds are good you will be age group competitive your whole life. Running is great because you don't need a team to do it and it's good for your health. If you can find some love or appreciation for it, then you can enjoy a lifetime of running.

CrazySlowRunner wrote:

If you can run a Sub 20 5k, it's not hard for you to win a race if you want.

True. I don't purposely look for small races with weak fields, but if it's nearby and a certified course, I'll put it on my schedule. This year I had one overall win and a second-place at age 58-59 (19+ minutes for 5K). A little embarrassing, but kinda fun.

Even in high school and college, a slow runner can enjoy a win now and then. At least back in the '70s, but I imagine that's still true.

In four years of high school competition, I won a couple track races -- one-mile and two-mile in dual meets. Slow times, like 4:50 and 10:50. In college, I had a few dual-meet 10,000m wins (35 minutes or so ... ).

I won a race I totally did not expect to win about 5 years ago. It's a local 5k and 10k, with a joint start. The 5k the previous couple of years had been won in 15 high to 16 low. I was just looking to run 18:30.

The gun goes off, and there are a couple guys ahead of me and pulling away. At roughly the 1.5 mile mark, the 5k does a 180 and the 10k keeps going. Well all those guys kept going which meant I was in the lead of the 5k race.

About 1k to go, I hear someone gaining on me, so I decide that I'll maintain current pace, and when the person catches me, I'll just try to hang on to them and outsprint them. Well the guy catches me but stays behind me. It was clear he worked hard to catch me and didn't want to increase speed. About 150 meters or so to the end I spy a storm drain, and in my mind I decide when I get to that drain, I'm going hard instantly and if I win I win, and if I burn up and get passed, so be it.

I took off in a full out sprint and easily dropped him and won the race. Didn't even break 19. I was a bit embarrassed because two or three guys mid 30s for the 10k, so clearly they would have destroyed me had they chosen the 5k race.

So why dont ya kill me wrote:

What percentage of people who run races have never won a race?

Just thinking from highschool maybe 50 dudes in the state won a race in a given year but there were 5000 XC racers... maybe some of those guys won turkey trots or something so let’s call it 2% of high school XC runners win a race in high school. Does that number go up or down after that? Have you never won a race? Does the hope of winning a race keep you going or just improving your time? Answer all at once or just pick one to answer.

Only won one race in hs XC and it was from a lean. My dad actually thought I lost it and we left before the award ceremony. Got 2nd 11 times in XC though. Won plenty of 3200m races. I won one 1600. In college I got 2nd in a ndoor 3k once.

I think like 75% of college runners never win a race. 65% of hsers never win a race and 30% of post collegiate road runners never win a race.

I raced 22 times in 2018. I beat 103,400 people and only lost to 330.

However, I did not win a single time. Several 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, and 5ths, but no 1sts.

Luck has a lot to do with it. A kid I coached in middle school, now a HS JR, had three wins this year, two JV XC races and a low key road race. His senior teammate who is head and shoulders better than him and has been varsity since he was a freshman hasn't won a race since middle school.

I've won 2 college races and 3 road races. I know guys a lot better than me who haven't won since HS.

If you've never won a race, you don't know how to cherry pick. Every metro area has tons of little charity 5ks that are won in 19, 20, 21 minutes. Go find one.

I'm old and WELL past my prime, but I still occasionally win road races overall just because there are so many lame ones around these days.

Ugh... wrote:

If you've never won a race, you don't know how to cherry pick. Every metro area has tons of little charity 5ks that are won in 19, 20, 21 minutes. Go find one.

I'm old and WELL past my prime, but I still occasionally win road races overall just because there are so many lame ones around these days.

Yup. I won my first race this summer, a small charity 5k in a little over 20 minutes. Last year someone ran 16:00 so I wasn’t expecting anything but nobody showed up this year. Second place was a 12 year old so I wouldn’t say it was my proudest running moment but it was fun to win something anyway.