How many racers have never won a race?

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.

Yep, even 10ks. Another thing to do is find two races close to each other, where one is a "big" race. Do the other race then (assuming you're decent/good). Like in Chicago, if there's a "small" race around the same time as the Shamrock Shuffle, Big 10K, or Rock n Roll Half Marathon, you should have a good shot at it.

Also, join a running group and find out which races all the "fast" guys (or girls) are doing, and don't do those (if you're looking to win that is).

Once you have that one race you win overall, you'll probably have it out of your system and go back to bigger races since (imo) those are more enjoyable.

Interesting question. Here’s a follow up:

What PR is needed to ensure someone has a 50% chance of having won one race in their life. My thoughts:

5k- 18:25

10k- 37:45

Half - ?

Marathon- ?

Aside wrote:

Interesting question. Here’s a follow up:

What PR is needed to ensure someone has a 50% chance of having won one race in their life. My thoughts:

5k- 18:25

10k- 37:45

Half - ?

Marathon- ?

Agree with 5K and 10K numbers. For half marathons, sticking with Chicago(land), I would say you can get away with 1:20 for the half. You might have to go outside the city (like the North Shore Half Marathon in Highland Park).

For the marathon, I would say 3:05. Take a look at the Meridian Marathon in Mississippi:

3:04:51 won it this year. Looks like 3:18 won last year. Top male was 3:26 in 2016 and was not even first (girl won in 3:20). If you're set on winning a full marathon and can qualify for Boston, this looks like a winner!

I won a race in my first high school meet.

The slow heat of the 200m.

I would guess distance runners are more likely to never have won a race.

But I have won at almost every distance.

100m high school dual meet overall

200m high school trip meet over all

400m high school district champ

800m a couple of open college invitationals and an IC4A semi

1500m college conference champ plus a few invitationals

3000m indoor open meet

5k a number of road races

10k a few road races. Twice won 300 bucks

It depends who you consider racers.

Anyone competing for a school would be a racer.

Most people at road races aren’t really racers.

cotton shirt wrote:

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.

If you won a heat that is winning a race. I guess I have counted winning JV or B squad which coincides with a Varsity race as a win. But I probably shouldn't because I won age groups and never counted them as wins. I did win Varsity races and those do count as wins. My times were not outstanding at all. Should being a part of a relay race be counted as a win even if you did not break the tape? I think so.

If you have never won a race, it is because you are selecting appropriately challenging competition. Keep it up.

A runner who puts themself up against true competition that challenges them will by definition not win many of them.

If your name is not David Rudisha, Kenenisa Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge etc and you win most of your races in a year, you are simply selecting weak competition. (a.k.a. "Doing the Rupp": winning Prague after DNF Boston, DNS other races, duck duck ducking the real competition.)

I didn't win but - at age 56 - just finished third OVERALL on December 16th in my first 5K since 1989.

Two high school kids went 19:49 and 20:17, then there was me at 22:36. I was about 20th early in the race, moved to about 9th by the first half-mile or so and was in third-place by about the 2 1/4 mile mark. I moved up on the guy and kept going as he had no answer for me. I got about 10-12 yards in front of him and maintained that to the finish.

The cool thing was that was 3rd out of 282 runners and it's not something I was expecting (a similar time last year would have gotten me 7th or 8th). Counting this race, I've only run eleven non-marathons and seven marathons and never had a top 10 finish before.

Obviously, I didn't run a fast time but just fast enough where it's possible to finish in the top 3, depending on who shows up.

There was also a Quarter Marathon and Half Marathon which drew runners away from the 5K.

I won a bunch of races (mostly track) in high school. Didn't win anything in college but I've picked up a few road race wins since.

If your not winning, you're just a hobby racer.

Might as well just give up because beating that dude/dudette to the tape there is the ONLY thing that matters.

I sucked in high school. Improved in college but didn’t run for the school. Improved more to where I PR’d with a 31:54 and a 15:14. Would try to run only the races with competition. Eventually won a handful and some weak course records.

Now in my mid 50’s, race 10 times annually in higher quality ‘legacy’ races throughout the country. With the exception of Peachtree I won all of my divisions, yet I’m just a sorta fast hobbyjogger, if there is such a thing.

I love running so that in and of itself it’s better than the rare victories.

I am still working on winning my first race. Never won a race in HS XC and track in 4 years. I have won the masters division for 5 races including 3 local half marathons (1:18/1:13/1:16 4th/2nd/6th overall ) a small local 10K (34:52 where I was beaten by a 29 year old marathon OTQ runner) and a preseason high school XC 5K race (17:05 11th overall behind high school and recent H.S. alum runners).

CrazySlowRunner wrote:

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

This is so American. It just boggles my mind when I read 'race reports' of someone winning a 5K in 20-something minutes. What the heck that is?

Here across the Atlantic we have dozens of parkruns every saturday in all the major cities and it's rare for them not to have at least 3 runners who are 18:XX or faster. Of course if you're moderately good for a hobbyjogger you have chances of winning one, but it's definitely not guaranteed.

For me it's more fun to think about which distances I've won at and which I never could.

100m - no never won it. doubt i ever could.

200m - no never won it. doubt i ever could.

300m - won it in school i think at a low level

800m - won

1500 - won

3000 - won

5k - won ONE i think ever

10k - never won. won my age category when i was an under-20, but not won overall, someone called sue lamb was in the race think she ran 36 mins and i was a teenager in high school and didn't beat her. idk if that counts or not.

I only won 2 races a small fell race and very small road race. I finished 2nd a few times but usually to someone streets ahead

I did 33 :14 for 10km and 15:54 5km in late 1980's

The standard at that level up to sub elite has dropped massively

I ran several times 32 mins 6 miles or 33 5km and the best in local races was about 12th slightly bigger races it would get you about 40th.

One local 5km there was about 300 entrants and I got 60th in 16:40

Back then they did have fun runs usually over 5km while the main race was 5km. I refused to do them as you as not much point winning something called a fun run

Now i get runners coming up to me saying they've just won in 36 or 37 mins

Back then I consider a good club runner to be sub 15 for 5km. Since I started coaching people are always saying I've done good times of course they are very average even at club level

r_jogger wrote:

CrazySlowRunner wrote:

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

This is so American. It just boggles my mind when I read 'race reports' of someone winning a 5K in 20-something minutes. What the heck that is?

No one is saying you’ll win every race you enter with a 20 minute time. But there are so many small 5k races in the US that if your goal is to win a race in your lifetime, you can probably seek out a small race that has minimal competition, and a 19:xx or 20:xx will sometimes be good enough to win if nobody good shows up. Normally no, you’re not winning with those times.

Ok, if we're trying to figure out what PRs equate with ever having won a race, here are some data points:

400m: ~55sec : 0 wins as an individual (numerous wins as a leg of a relay)

800m : 2:00 -- 0 wins (some wins as a relay leg of a relay)

1500m: 4:05 -- 0 wins

1600m : 4:36 -- won many HS dual meets

3200m: 10:00 -- won plenty of dual meets in HS

5000m: 15:50 -- won 1 HS XC dual meet and numerous local 5k's as an adult

8000m: 26:20 -- 0 wins

10000m: 36:00 -- 0 wins

marathon: 2:55 -- 0 wins

Can't believe so many people are claiming to not have won many races and being letsrun posters!

I've probably won close to 200 (if you count lifetime) but simply lived in areas of the US where being fast wasn't required. 4:20 mile, 14:48 5k, 1:08 half. Now I live in an area where a local 19min girl wins most races outright and if she doesn't show a 22min winning time isn't abnormal! In HS my 4:30 won all but state.

But to answer OP's question. I'd say less than 1%

I can't remember how many races I've won. I was a decent 800 runner and probably won 10 in high school, maybe 5 in college, just guesses. If you are an 800 guy, there may be heats and and field sizes are pretty small, so all of a sudden there are a lot of are a lot of race winners in a single day.

I won a 5k pushing a stroller with 50lbs of kid in it, 19:12.

I suspect 20% of people who consider themselves a "runner" have won a race at some point. You've got small town 5k's, JV races, freshman races, multiple heats, relays.

I ran a 9:20 two mile as a freshman in high school. From that point on won lots of races in high school and college. First varsity high school race as a 14 year old beat a future NCAA Div 1 ALL American in XC and a Division III champion - never maximized my talent. Oddly, I don't think (not really my event) I ever won a road race 10k. The point when I was at 30 minute fitness I always happened to get beat by a better runner in the field. No matter - I am old now and it is all good.