The Great Debate - what classes as a race?

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Comments

  • Got a marathon this morning. Might be a real race at my end but not sure if it is down the charity end. 

  • I really need to sort out my charity end

     

  • Everything that isn't a recovery session is a race

     

     

     

     

     

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    These days a race (in the running sense) involves recording who came first, second, etc., and their times.  In the old days, before stopwatches, they just used to record positions, I suppose.

    The 'space race' is journo-ese which has passed into common use, not real.  Like the word marathon is used to describe anything which takes a long time, which can mean shopping and so on.

    Race for Life used to give a prize for first place - don't they do that any more?

    literatin wrote (see)
    Ben RW wrote (see)

    Hello everyone.

    As part of an upcoming feature in the mag, we want to know your thoughts on the following question -

    Are events that don't record your finishing time or place, real races?

    Post your comments, thoughts and opinions below.

    Thanks!

    Actually, in case this is going in the mag, I have a comment: you   need to remove the comma between 'place' and 'real'.

    Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

    image  That's what I like to see!

     

  • Charles RCharles R ✭✭✭

    What about this other varient? On Strava they do a monthly "race" where you aim to do e.g. a 10k as fast as poss during the month. It records your best 10k from any attempts and uploads it to a leaderboard. So for example, last month I came 600th out of 21,000 entrants. You have to opt-in to be in the list. So my time and position might actually be from a solo run (although better times normally come from actual races), so does that count as a race? You can have a few attempts - it doesn't take the first one you do.

  • NayanNayan ✭✭✭

    If you die after 3k because the start wS too early and the lead bike didnt show up can you use 'yeah but I don't call it a race' as an excuse for your epic fail?

  • Anything that you put your maximum effort into I suppose. Depends on how you approach the run. A club handicap or a parkrun can be a race depending on how you approach it. 

    .....or maybe I'm talking nonsense.

  • Surely "the great debate" is whether or not runners should nod at each other as they pass...

  • The road race handbook says about serious races v funruns  "However, the essential distinction is that if no special rewards are made to any participants (other than a finisher memento to all) and if no results or times are recorded, then your event’s status is a fun run

  • r_h has it - if you give a prize for winning it's a race, otherwise it is a fun run.

    That is how parkrun get away without medical cover, etc.  If they gave prizes for winning parkrun would be a race and then they would have to jump through all the race licence conditions to get insurance cover.

     

  • I'm of English race, or politically correct White British....

  • I did the colour run in the summer, it wasn't timed and don't think that would be classed as a race. I think if there is a 'winner' timed or not I think that would be a race. 

  • Colour run is a bunch of people throwing paint. Bugger all to do with anything athletic or a race. Not my thing.Far too nerdy. I look down on people who do it but it's their right to do it if they want. Good luck to them.

  • The color run is an great example or a fun run, I used it as an example of something that I think clearly is not a race. However I don't think it's right to look down on people that do it because for a lot of people who don't run or haven't done it much 5k is a challenge. It was by far the most relaxed and fun 5k I've ever done!
  • Moustachioz wrote (see)
    The color run is an great example or a fun run, I used it as an example of something that I think clearly is not a race. However I don't think it's right to look down on people that do it because for a lot of people who don't run or haven't done it much 5k is a challenge. It was by far the most relaxed and fun 5k I've ever done!

    Wasn't that one about £35 or something? pay that much to jog about and throw paint at each other? 'kin barmy.

  • Yeah it wasn't the cheapest of runs but I got to run it with friends and have a laugh along the way, I love the non competitive element of it and running just to run. I must admit getting paint thrown on me was pretty good fun too! plus races like that are there to help raise money for charity which is always a good thing! 

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  • Philomena Cunk wrote (see)

    Colour run is a bunch of people throwing paint. Bugger all to do with anything athletic or a race. Not my thing.Far too nerdy. I look down on people who do it but it's their right to do it if they want. Good luck to them.

    Oi, there's nowt nerdy about it, far from it, it's more for the LOLm8s and ROFLcoptars "''aving a laaaaarf". Nerdy is an race with doppler radar, lidar, gait recognition and multipoint cameras to let you build live 3d flyovers from free virtual cameras and the like image

  • I did the Fleetwood Rotary club 10k & that had no results although it was most definately a race its just that the organisation was pretty poor.

  • Its a great question! I would say no its not a race, its an fun run

  • Quite an old topic, don't you think? image

  • an old peanut in every bite

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