Timeline for Have human runners delivered messages faster than horses?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 27, 2017 at 12:00 | comment | added | Johnny | @ypercubeᵀᴹ These are good points, yes. The record winning horse I mentioned would need to be reduced to a third of its overland speed by the terrain and other factors, for it to match the record runner. Notably, the previous record winning horse I mentioned (who did 100 miles in 6:21:12) would have to be reduced to less than half of its 100 mile overland speed. And, notably, those are record breaking examples. If a horse has much less speed, strength and/or stamina, it might become much closer. | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 11:53 | comment | added | ypercubeᵀᴹ | And of course there are logistics involved. If I use a horse for 153 miles, I'll need another horse to go back immediately, right? Which might not be possible. Or spend time / days for the horse to rest (is rest time higher for humans or horses after a 24 hour run? No idea). | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 11:51 | comment | added | ypercubeᵀᴹ | @Johnny I know almost nothing about horses. The travel from Athens to Sparta had some mountains to climb and then get down - and possibly forest areas. And no idea if there were more forests at that time and if there were paths available. Quite possible (I assume that humans can run easier through such forest areas than horses). | |
| Nov 27, 2017 at 11:39 | comment | added | Johnny | @ypercubeᵀᴹ Thank you for bringing up the case! Unfortunately, I don't have a riding comparison over a 153 mile track. Comparing it to the 100 mile record, I will say that the horse's performance would need to decline very sharply for it to lose to the record you mentioned. It would need to be making something like a 5th of its time over the 100 mile track over those last 53 miles. I do not expect such a decline is possible, even with the circumstances of terrain, weather and exhaustion against the horse. | |
| Oct 2, 2017 at 0:04 | comment | added | Pieter Geerkens | The reason for the 100 mile race length is that at not much longer distances than that, perhaps 125 to 150 miles, a rider with a single horse will consistently lose to even average long distance human runners. The length of 100 miles is the nearest round number to the estimated cross-over point | |
| Oct 1, 2017 at 12:58 | comment | added | ypercubeᵀᴹ | This year's winner (this Friday) did it in 22 hours and 4 minutes. | |
| Oct 1, 2017 at 12:53 | comment | added | ypercubeᵀᴹ | About Phideippides: before running from Marathon to Athens (the 26 miles) to announce the victory, he had run (a few days earlier before the battle) from Athens to Sparta (around 153 miles) to seek help for the imminent war against the invaders Persians. There is an event every year that revives this run: Spartathlon. | |
| Mar 31, 2017 at 6:32 | history | edited | Johnny | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
affect not effect
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| Mar 31, 2017 at 6:31 | comment | added | Johnny | I'm aware of this, but didn't see the need to cover it. If a human can't outrun one horse, they surely cannot outrun a succession of horses. | |
| Mar 31, 2017 at 6:29 | vote | accept | Johnny | ||
| Mar 29, 2017 at 19:47 | comment | added | user15620 | A good answer, but huge caveat about directly comparing men and horses: with horses you can use a post system where the rider switches horses along the journey. A man on horseback doing that is could manage a couple hundred miles a day on decent roads for many days. For message delivery, that's the more valid comparison. | |
| Mar 29, 2017 at 15:09 | history | answered | Johnny | CC BY-SA 3.0 |