There's a story about some Kenyans outrunning a Cheetah in 6km. It had been killing their livestock, so they decided to go after it.

Cheetahs are very fast, but humans have way more endurance.

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shagie 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Cheetahs are very fast, but humans have way more endurance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_versus_Horse_Marathon

> The Man versus Horse Marathon is an annual race over 21 miles (34 km), where runners compete against riders on horseback through a mix of road, trail and mountainous terrain. The race, which is a shorter distance than an official marathon road race, takes place in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells every June.

> ...

> The event started in 1980, when local landlord Gordon Green overheard a discussion between two men in his pub, the Neuadd Arms. One man suggested that over a significant distance across country, man was equal to any horse. Green decided that the challenge should be tested in full public view, and organised the first event.

While the horses had a string of wins from 2008 to 2019, 2022 to 2025 had three wins for humans and one win for a horse.

The next race event: https://www.green-events.co.uk/man-v-horse

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FergusArgyll a minute ago | parent | next [-]

There was a great radiolab episode about it a few years ago but I remember it being in Utah not UK

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blaze33 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The Man vs Horse marathon is interesting but in a real race we have no actual chance of winning.

There are horse endurance races where the winner arrived in 7,5 hours after 160km[1]. That's a sub 2-hours marathon almost 4 times in a row (not to mention with a guy on your back).

[1] https://eatnstays.com/uaes-almazrouei-wins-almutadil-cup-at-...

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stephencanon 3 hours ago | parent [-]

“in a real race we have no actual chance of winning” is an absolutely wild thing to say in response to a link to a real race in which the human has won the last few years in a row.

	▲	projektfu an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I think it implies that the best competitors are not participating.

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aqfamnzc 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Wow, seems surprisingly balanced. I would guess that if it was 50% longer distance than humans would win reliably, and 50% shorter would allow the horses to win?

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notahacker 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Think it's more to do with hilly, wooded courses unfavourable to horses and a requirement that the horse's heart rate remain below a certain threshold when inspected by a vet in the middle and end of a course, whereas the leading humans are maxing out their efforts

I don't think the Mongol cavalry would lose races to humans over any distance of steppe

	▲	neaden an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah I think on say, a proper road the horse would win at any distance.

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topkai22 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think the term is persistence hunting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting). There was an intriguing blog post years ago (which sadly I can’t find) about how terrifying a fictional portrayal of persistence hunting would be- grinding down prey through exhaustion, thinking you’ve escaped but being slowly tracked down.

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tptacek an hour ago | parent | next [-]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Follows

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foobiekr 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There's also the story "Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird" by Sonya Dorman in the first Dangerous Visions which is like this, in a way.

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stoneman24 3 hours ago | parent [-]

There’s also “the ruum” by Arthur Porges[0]. We got as part of English class in high school, a long time ago.

Try not to read the Wikipedia as it might spoil the short story, there’s the pdf available on the web somewhere

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruum

	▲	sonofhans 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes! I remember reading that, as you say, a long time ago. This is the first time I’ve seen someone else reference it. I love that story.

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_doctor_love 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Somehow that reminds of the old B-movie Surviving the Game with Ice-T.

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glenstein 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Wooly Mammoth basically living out the plot of It Follows.