All sports are about winning, but a few of the world’s most popular competitions place extra emphasis on speed. When it comes to taking advantage of offers from sportsbooks, like those available from sites like oddschecker, bettors regularly wager on competitions like Formula One Racing, steeplechase events like the Grand National, and long-distance endurance competitions like the Tour de France.
Each brand of athletic racing competition is distinct, broken down into auto racing, horseracing, and cycling and running. Yet they all require participants to push themselves, their horse, or their racecar to the limit in search of a split-second breakaway. So, which is toughest for the athletes involved?
Let’s take a closer look at all three types of racing competitions, as well as the primary races that take place in auto racing, horseracing, and cycling and running.
Auto Racing: F1 vs. Indy Cars
Most people think the fastest cars in the world are those constructed by Formula One giants, like Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull. However, Indy Car competitions, like the US’s Indy500 race, are built to be just as quick. But that’s where the similarities end.
IndyCar racing is about strategy and the ability to move amid a huge pack, incurring a few bumps along the way, while slinging around an oval track. F1, on the other hand, allows for more flashy driving with more variation in tracks, along with plenty of daring maneuvering along the way. Indy is more about brawn; F1 is about flash.
And while F1 drivers can whip their cars around with more confidence, IndyCars will also hit straightaway speeds that are actually faster than F1 cars. F1 cars usually linger around 205mph, while IndyCar drivers will hit top speeds of 235mph.
Horseracing: Flat Racing vs. Steeple
The most popular race in the world is the thoroughbred flat race. This horserace is likely what people imagine when they think of the Kentucky Derby: thoroughbreds line up behind the gates, then sprint around a track. Steeple chasing, on the other hand, involves obstacles like fences and ditches.
Clearly, the challenges in both are different. A flat race requires jockeys to push their horse at the exact right moment in terms of the overall pack and their horse’s energy stores. On the other hand, a steeplechase jockey must guide their horse through difficult obstacles, jumping over fences and ditches, while maintaining a competitive speed.
The primary difference is speed. The steeplechase requires horses to have more muscle control and variation in their skillsets in terms of acceleration and agility. A flat racing horse, on the other hand, is trained for a dead sprint at top speeds. And while competitions like the Grand National includes a prize pool of over $1 million, the world’s richest flat race, the Saudi Cup, has a pool of $20 million.
The Human Machine: Running vs. Cycling
Similar to comparing a steeplechase to a flat race, comparing long-distance running to long-distance cycling is difficult. Both are inherently different, as cyclists use a bicycle. Still, both push the body to its limit in terms of endurance—and many runners would say the demands are higher for their bodies.
Many runners who also moonlight as cyclists say that their body takes longer to recover from a long run than a long bike ride. The reason for this is that the muscles and tendons will work harder to keep a person moving across a flat or inclined surface. It takes constant effort, while a bicycle will keep moving if an athlete’s legs stop pedaling—at least, for a few moments.
In general, riding a bicycle is a bit easier on the body’s joints than running indefinitely. Still, many of the world’s most competitive cycling races, like the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, go on for seven-hour stints. And both cyclists and runners will face ample mental challenges as the hours tick by. In fact, both cyclists and runners train their minds just like they do their bodies.