Video: NPR goes to the Man Vs. Horse Marathon

We humans like to think that we were born to run. And while our physiological evolution suggests just that, we’re still seriously lacking in the speed department.

And although there are many animals that can easily beat us in the 100m dash (including a house cat), our advantage is that we can sweat, which means that we’re pretty much unbeatable over long distances. Our closest competitor is probably a horse. That’s why, about 35 years ago, a debate in a Welsh pub gave birth to the what today has become an annual tradition: the Man Vs. Horse Marathon.

We’ve explored the bizarre history of human beings trying to beat horses in foot races before, and reported on that time a couple of years ago when a human actually won the Man Vs. Horse Marathon (which, to add to the oddity, is actually only a 35K race, making it even tougher for humans to win). American broadcaster NPR sent a documentarian over to England to investigate the race, which may be one of the most bizarre sporting events in the world.