By Davy Crockett

Both a podcast and a full article

Man vs Horse race held in 1929 at the Philadelphia Arena

For more than two centuries, people have debated if humans on foot could beat horses. Those on the side of humans argued that over a long enough distance, human beings could outrun horses. It has been contended that humans are capable of covering vast distances after the horse becomes winded and unable to continue.

To try to prove this point, ultradistance races billed as “Man vs. Horse” were competed as early as 1879. But it was a 157-mile "man vs. horse" race held in Utah, in 1957-58. that captured the attention of America and beyond.



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19th Century 

In 1818 at Feltham, Hertfordshire, England, a Mr. J Barnett, a pedestrian of Feltham, took on a bet for 200 guineas that he could beat a fast horse in a 48-hour race. The horse carried 168 pounds. The horse went out fast and reached 90 miles in 13 hours, stopping to feed only twice. After 24 hours, the score was horse: 118 miles, Barnett: 82 miles.  After 48 hours the horse won, 179 miles to 158 miles. It was believed that the horse could have only gone a few more miles if the race was for another day.

In January 1879, George Guyon of Canada, an elite pedestrian, and later the 6-day world champion that year, raced against a stallion, “Hesing Jr.” for 52 hours in Chicago. George reached 149 miles, but the horse covered 201 miles despite the small track in the Exposition Building with sharp turns. The Chicago Tribune stated, “It was the first time in a long journey that a horse had defeated a man.” The horse took long rests totaling 24.5 hours. Reasons given for Guyon’s defeat was that he wasn’t feeling well and “the cold air of the building affected him to such an extent that during the last 24 hours of the contest he was unable to do himself justice.”

Later in 1879 two of the greatest pedestrians in history, Edward Payson Weston (1839–1929) and Daniel O’Leary (1841-1933) discussed the previous event and speculated how a man would do against a horse in a 6-day event. They disagreed on this subject. O’Leary believed that horses would win, Weston was on the side of humans. To settle the debate, a race was held in San Francisco beginning on October 15, 1879, with seven men against eleven horses on a track at Mechanics’ Pavilion. A horse named Pinafore won with 557 miles, but there were no truly elite runners/walkers in the event.

Weston and O'Leary

Weston was still unconvinced, so O’Leary put on another 6.5-day event in Chicago starting on September 5, 1880. It was held at the Haverly tent on the lake shore and included prize money of $3,000. Fifteen men and five horses competed. There was a crowd of four thousand spectators on hand for the first day. The runners started off on a six-minute-mile pace and the horses were clocking eight-minute-miles early on. After the first day the leading horse had reached 130 miles and the leading man, 117. When 48-hours was reached, the top horse, Speculator, had reached 220 miles. The top man was at 195 miles, but he would quit at 200 miles with a swollen face.

Five days in, Michael J. Byrne of Buffalo, New York took the lead. On the last day Speculator had regained the lead but sadly died while resting in his stable. Byrne also suffered during the later stages. “He began to bleed at the nose and fell down in a fainting fit and was carried into the tent amid a chorus of ‘ohs’ from the ladies. It took half an hour to revive him, and when he came out again he had lost five miles besides being very stiff and sore.” The leading horse was a black mare named Betsy Baker. She “failed to respond to the whip” and went in for two hours before she could come out again. She had finally responded to a “dose of champagne.