Can trained humans run faster than all other animals on a marathon distance?

Question

During the athletics world championship, a commentator mentioned casually during the marathon discipline that humans are faster over long distances than all animals. I'm unsure if this can be said generally. Obviously some individuals cannot run, so consider the speed of the fastest individuals of each species.

Were there any scientific experiments performed to compare humans and animal? Alternatively, are there medical/biomechanical reasons upon which one can base this statement?

Additional research turned up the following Nature abstract:

Here we assess how well humans perform at sustained long-distance running, and review the physiological and anatomical bases of endurance running capabilities in humans and other mammals. Judged by several criteria, humans perform remarkably well at endurance running, thanks to a diverse array of features, many of which leave traces in the skeleton. The fossil evidence of these features suggests that endurance running is a derived capability of the genus Homo, originating about 2 million years ago, and may have been instrumental in the evolution of the human body form.

Take this as proof that this question is trickier than it looks. The following articles also seem to support this theory: Born to Run, The Human Body Is Built for Distance.

The main factor seems to be temperature, which complicates an objective comparison of specific mammals. Standard ambient temperature is from my knowledge around 25° C. It seems this a temperature where it gets tricky for horses and especially sled dogs to keep up with our best marathon runners. On even longer distances, likely even more. Probably a doubled marathon distance will already change the whole mammal endurance ranking. It would be interesting to see how desert/steppe animals like camel/antelope/cheetah do compared to dog/horse/human.

Answer 1

We just need to look at sled dogs and do a little math.

In 1986, Susan Butcher broke Rick Swenson’s record, set in 1981, by completing the 1049+ miles in 11 days.

1049/11 = 95 miles per day. This dwarfs a marathon, and marathon runners don't pull sleds. However, there are other races where we manage 71ish miles per day. This is for the Self-Transcendence, which purports to be the longest foot race on the planet. The Iditarod is in particularly cold climates. There is a case of 100km being ran in 6:13. 100km is 62 miles, which starts to get into the Iditarod range. Someone also ran the AT, 2000ish miles in 50+ days. None of these accomplishments conquer the mile eating 95 miles per day that Iditarod champion dogs accomplish.

Most speculation I read is that the dogs outperform us only the in the cold. However there's no comparable opportunity in warm climates (sledding requires snow, but if someone has an example, I'll include it.), so it is not clear that this is due to the dog being unable vs. humans not having a reason/method/desire to race dogs long distances in warmer climates. Dogs can certainly handle warmer location in day to day living, for instance Dingos exist across hot and inhospitable areas, such as the Simpson desert in Australia.

One reason that this is significant, is that it's contrived. Humans are the only species to create physical challenges where people train for a large portion of their lives just to accomplish this purely contrived challenge. The only animal I've been able to find that beats us is an animal we have harnessed to compete to the same end. The comparison breaks down with most other animals, not because they aren't fast, but because it's not accurate to compare an olympic marathon runner with the average (as opposed to the best) kangaroo. But it's not really possible (within ethical contrants) to find the "best" kanagaroo. Yet even in this contrived contest, we are not the best.

If you compare the average human, we would fare less well, but that comparison is also harder to achieve, as we'd have to have numbers on what the average human can run.

The other animal that came to my mind is the ostrich. Unfortunately all I have found so far is wikipedia. Still looking for more on this, however the cites look good so:

People race Ostriches in Africa O.o

When being pursued by a predator, they have been known to reach speeds in excess of 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph), and can maintain a steady speed of 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph), which makes the Ostrich the world's fastest two-legged animal.

These birds blow us away in both short and long distance running (we can't even come close to a sustained 31mph) and they handle a 104 degree F range of temperature., which is not as great as ours, but is much above "cold only" climates.

Kind of makes me want to see an ostrich marathon :)

Answer 2

Short Answer As other have noted, it's not true under all conditions. For example, sled dogs can outrun people easily in cold weather (see DARPA studies). However, it sounds like the commentator was referring to the endurance running hypothesis, which says ancient humans were able to hunt down nearly any animal by outrunning it. The context is key, because the hunter can start the chase in the mid-day heat of the African plains.

With that qualification, it's possible that humans can run down anything except dogs^*. A study of tribesmen in Botswana concluded that this way of hunting, "produces a higher meat yield than hunting with bow and arrow, clubs and spears, or springhare probes and about the same as snaring. Only hunting with dogs produces a significantly higher meat yield."

Background The limiting factors in long-distance running are primarily oxygen intake and heat dissipation, both of which people excel at. One explanation, proposed in this paper by David Carrier is that humans evolved to run long distances under the mid-day sun of the African savannah, hunting large game by chasing it to the point of heat stroke or exhaustion.

Specialized Physiology Our bodies are specialized to address the two limiting factors noted earlier:

1. Oxygen: Both humans and dogs have very fine (and easily damaged) lung tissue. This maximizes oxygen intake to support sustained energy output. Although many animals can sprint faster than a person, their lungs cannot supply enough oxygen to sustain those speeds. After a minute or so, when the muscles cells have depleted their internal energy stores, their output is limited by the supply of oxygen.

2. Heat: Even with enough oxygen, there's still the issue of overheating. People have two advantages here: Sweat glands (rare in the animal kingdom) and an upright posture, which exposes a very small surface area to the sun.

Sources:

• Good overview, same the authors as Nature paper (Free, full paper) "In short, for marathon-length distances, humans can outrun almost all other mammals and can sometimes outrun even horses, especially when it is hot."
• Carrier paper (First page free) Probably the original source of the claim. "In spite of this, humans are adept endurance runners, capable of running down, for example, zebra and kangaroo."
• Persistence Hunting by Modern Hunter-Gatherers "Persistence hunting takes place during the hottest time of the day and involves chasing an animal until it is run to exhaustion."
• Cite for Dogs beating humans Magazine article about studies on sled dogs.

*By dogs, I mean Canidae, the family of animals including the domesticated dog, wolves, coyotes, etc.

Answer 3

No, horses run faster and longer.

When comparing marathon and endurance riding we get the following numbers :

• Human : 42.195km in 2:03:38, average speed of 20.5km/h (world record at 2011 Berlin Marathon)
• Human : 160km in 11:28:03, average speed of 14km/h (100miles ultramarathon world record)
• Horse : 160km in 6:21:12, average speed of 25.2 km/h (world record at 2010 President's Cup in Abu Dhabi, source: FEI)

Not to mention the horse carries a 75kg weight on his back. UAE are well known for their endurance rides. I don't see the time when we'll be able to run a marathon 25% faster than the current WR four times in a row...

FYI, we also learn that :

Camels competed against horses in this 40-km pioneering event in the dunes of Dubai and the first 15 places were taken by horses. (source)

Answer 4

There is an event in england that is run every year:

In 1980, in the mid-Wales town of Llanwrtyd Wells, an argument broke out in the pub concerning an age-old matter. “Yes, we all know that horses can sprint fast,” one man declared, “but, over a real distance, man is its equal.” The pub was the Neuadd Arms and the speaker was the landlord, Gordon Green. To resolve the dispute, Green suggested a full public test: a race. A £1000 prize was put up to attract competitors willing the attempt the feat, and the Man vs Horse Marathon has been staged every year since.

Still organised by creator Gordon Green, the Man vs Horse Marathon is run over a rough, cross-country course of 22 miles, and has become the largest horse race in Britain, attracting more riders in recent years than the forty competitors in a Grand National. Numbers of entrants on the side of the runners now usually reach over two hundred and fifty, and are also increasing.

Runners are given a 15 minute head start (A skilled runner can have over 2 miles down in that time some almost 3) Dispite this

Runners start 15 minutes earlier than the horse riders but the event is a timed race. So times are compared not who comes in earliest.

Here are the results from 2007(the last time a human won) and 2012. The site has other years but not all the Man v Horse results on a single easy to link page.

Horses have had the upper hand on runners in all bar two of the races to date.

So it is possible for a man to run faster than a horse over a marathon but not as the norm. In 2012 the first 8 times were all horses. Though the top human did beat several horses. It seems a good horse will beat a good human runner most of the time.

Answer 5

To answer the second part (and A.Rex's comment), humans sweat a lot. In addition, we're hairless and breathe through the mouth. This all helps to dump heat, which is one of the most limiting factors. It's thought this helped in scavenging (run to a carcass if you sport vultures, before they eat it) and later hunting.

If you eliminate heat as a factor, e.g. by staging a run in Wales, horses generally do better.

Answer 6

The claim is actually a misstatement of something else that's true. Even then, it doesn't work against all running animals.

Humans are among the best persistence hunters in nature. Persistence hunting is when you follow your prey at slow speed but never give up. Over a long enough distance humans will outrun/outwalk and catch any prey animal. So far, there has not been a single species of prey animal that humans cannot catch up to (and yes, that includes horses).

The exception is when you compare us to other persistence hunters. African wild dogs may be better than us at persistence hunting. We may not be able to catch an African wild dog purely by persistence hunting (when the animal you chase give up and stop running before you do). We have to resort to ranged weapons (guns, spears) at the end.

Answer 7

In the examples given so far of animals outrunning humans over long distances, the animals have been human trained and controlled. The situation may be different if the animals are allowed to operate themselves.

It is widely reported that the San (Kalahari bushmen) can outrun antelopes. They do it by having the animal run away from them, catching up with it before it has a chance to regain its breath, and continuing this until the antelope gives up. In a test in New Mexico, marathon runners managed to get close enough to a pronghorn for a kill. Pronghorns are capable of more than 80 km/h over short distances and 50km/h over several km.

I will admit though that wolves will probably beat even the best humans, especially in snow. I can't see anyone volunteering to test it though!

Answer 8

Distance record in a day for a human is 188.590 miles.[1] I can't find any record of an attempt at more than 100 miles for a horse. This makes it very difficult to say which can run further in a comparison of human ultramarathon vs endurance riding, contrary to some of the other answers. It's also not ideal to compare different races of the same distance across different terrain. However, the question was with regard to a marathon distance which is 26.2 miles[2]. Some of the other answers have already pointed to the annual Man vs Horse marathon in Wales, which has only been won by a man twice out of thirty-three races.[3] It has the advantage of comparing both man and horse on the course, on the same day. Given that fact, it's probably the fairest source of an answer to the question despite the fact that it actually falls approximately 4 miles short of being a true marathon.

Sources:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24-hour_run
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_versus_Horse_Marathon