Race etiquette

It's a race. You beat her. Would she feel better if you had purposely let her win?

Generally the rule most of the runners I know have adopted during races are "run your own race". Training for races is different, as you're there to motivate each other and if your buddy falls behind and needs to take a walk break, you stop and take the walk break with them. But during races, it's acceptable to try and do your very best, even if it means passing youngsters, unless someone is clearly distraught. If I see someone crying I will at the very least check with them if they're okay.

Race on! Congrats on the finish

Leapfrogging with people is pretty common, and so is trying to pass someone at the end. I have often thought something along the lines of "oh HELL no, the guy who ran this juggling the whole way will NOT beat me".

Congrats on your race!

I don't understand the question

Hi all
Today I took part in my first 10 k race after going from getting out of breath tying my shoes to running this distance. Obviously as this is my first race I was running right at the back of the field. After 8 k I was running in what I thought was last place as most of the of the other runners were club athletes. No problem as this was what I expected. Then a young girl came skipping past me, I plodded on. She then stopped and started walking, as I caught up to her she then ran off again, then stopped and walked again. This was repeated 3 times. I got annoyed and ran like mad to make sure I beat her I finally passed her with about 500 meters to go and as I passed her I turned and saw her face, she was grey with fatigue, but I ran on. I have just looked at the results and she was an under 20 runner. I now feel guilty. Was I wrong?

I think that neither of you did anything wrong. Whether she was trying to stay ahead of you or using a race/walk strategy, she did nothing wrong. Its a race! Similarly you did nothing wrong sprinting at the end to pass her. This is very normal for the end of every race. Personally, I like to find someone to follow as a pacer and then pass them (and as many others as possible) near the end of each race. Its not personal, but the competitive nature of races are part of the fun for many people.

That sounds common. I think she just wanted to run as much as she could. Pretty common occurance in any race

I don't understand the question

^ This. I really don't understand why you'd feel bad. It was a race. You finished. Congrats on your success.

Nope. It's a race. If she wanted to beat you, she should've trained harder.

this.

it's a race.

most people run their own race and i usually do as well BUT if i can see someone else wants to race me then you better believe it's going to be on :devil:

and hell no would i feel guilty about winning. i'm competitive and i suspect anyone directly challenging to race is as well.

My first ever race went a little like this with my friend and I sort of leap frogging a little girl (maybe 7 or 8 years old). Early on, we saw her stop and play with a dog in someone's yard - we passed her. She sprinted by again, next time we saw her she was skipping down a stone wall by a farm. She did some pirouette thing off the wall and sprinted off again. Next time we saw her she was laying flat on her back in someone's yard and singing and clapping her hands. We passed her and didn't see hide nor hair of her until the last 1/8 of a mile. We climbed the last hill and rounded the corner towards the finish and the girl blew by us like she was working a blast of rocket fuel (she ran across the corner through the grass really-which was good because we probably would have clotheslined her by accident). Needless to say she beat us by a fair chunk, and I doubt she felt even the tiniest iota of guilt about it. To be honest, I don't think she even noticed us (we congratulated her after the race and she kind of looked at us like who the *kitten* are you?). She had a blast, we had a blast-but had she been plodding along struggling to finish-we would have run in with her. We obviously weren't at the front of the pack (nor the back), but I guess maybe that's just us.

Bro, there were lots of people behind you. Don't sweat it.

The thing about the finish line is that everyone is hanging around to support you/clapping, whatever. No one thinks that you were racing the yungin' and trying to make her feel bad. Lots of people try to sprint at the finish line. Many are fatigued that they have to start and stop and start and walk and sprint. Some folks are racing the clock, not the person next to or behind them.

When I first started racing local 5Ks, I had this woman....this OLD crunched over woman who was my nemesis.....I couldn't beat the lady. She'd be in front of me and would start to walk...I'd get just about up to her and she'd take off....and so on all race. This happened at EVERY race I did for a few YEARS....until I beat her....I did it...it was the proudest moment of my life...I BEAT the old lady. I haven't seen her in a while but I look for her every race I do that's local and a 5K. I hope I'm still running races when I'm her age!

Its a race....congratulations on your finish and be very proud of yourself!

I've run in dozens of races and been RacevDirector for several others. It's one to put out a big effort at the end of a race if you are close to a PR time. But doing an all-out sprint or getting into a cutthroat battle to decide the difference between 501st and 502nd place looks tacky. Run your own race and finish with class.

^^^What?

As someone who has run competitively for years, and done this for 1st place many times, you better finish hard if the rest of us are.