Leg racers vs wheel chair racers on a city streets course of a few miles. Who wins?
Weelchair, here is a link to Bloomsday a 12K held in Spokane Wa
Wheelchairs have a clear advantage as seen by the times recorded in actual races.
Here’s a list of winners of the Boston Marathon, along with their winning times. The wheelchair divisions started in the mid 70s. The times came down rapidly over the first few years and have been under two hours (men’s) since 1985 and the course record is 1:18:27. I’m pretty sure no one has ever done a marathon on foot in under 2:00:00.
A marathon probably doesn’t count as “streets course of a few miles”, but the difference at marathon distance is so pronounced I expect it would apply at shorter distances, too.
As a former wheelchair racer myself, I can tell you we would kill a runner’s time. When a race features a wheelchair division, it is normal for the wheelers to start a certain amount of time ahead of the runners. In the Crim in 2004 (the last time I competed, and it was a 10mile race), the wheelchair competitors started 30 prior to the regular runners.
While it is true we definitely have an advantage timewise on smooth pavement, that advantage completely disappears when hills are introduced. Going up hills is hard shit, and when you throw in some unlucky rain or whatever, you can actually be ground to a halt.
I finished the ten mile race in 63 minutes and I wasn’t (and never was) a particularly great racer. The record for the Crim for a wheeler is something like 37 minutes. When you get down to the elite levels, the disparity between runners and wheelers narrows. The record for runners of the Crim is something like 43 minutes. (I might be wrong but its around there).
Out of curiosity, how would excessive turns in the course affect your time? I suppose gentle curves might be easier, but I would think that outright turns would slow you somewhat.
Yeah, they can be awkward. As far as how much they actually impact the time, I couldn’t say, it depends, of course, on the individual course. The more experienced a racer gets, the more handily they can navigate the pitfalls of a street race; things like the sharp turns, the uphill climbs, unpredictable weather, etc.
I never got too far with my racing hobby, as I have several issues with the sport of wheelchair racing as a whole. The sport is an inherently unfair sport, one which gives a natural advantage to competitors who are either 1) amputees or 2) paraplegics who have no sensation in their lower bodies.
This is due to the design of a typical racing wheelchair. The best, most state-of-the-art models are those which are designed in a fashion which has the user seated on top of their legs; which are tucked underneath their upper bodies, which are situated down into the seat (or “cockpit”, more appropriately). If one has sensation in their lower bodies (as I do), this position is not attainable; much less to be able to get into that position and race as hard as one can for 10 miles.
So, because I couldn’t use the standard, best model chair for racing, I had to use an alternative model. This model wasn’t as aerodynamic, it was older and it didn’t allow me to compete at the level I could have if I had no feeling in my legs and I was able to use the standard chair. This is ridiculous to me. Unfair. I never raced again. Plus, I’m not really a runner/racer type anyway. I just a competitive athlete, so I had to give racing a try.
What about downhill?
I don’t understand this. If wheelchair users would kill the runners’ times, why do they need to start before them?
Just as with cycling and running, you can’t make up the time lost to the climb.
The initial acceleration is slower at the start, trapping the wheelchair behind runners.
So neither party interferes with the other. If you start with a slower group in front the faster group has to work their way through the slower group, which is just inconvenient congestion for everyone involved.
Actually, hills could work to your advantage, as long as the downhill portions are first, and the uphill follows immediately. Build up insane speed going down, and then use that built-up speed to make it up the following hill. In most cases, this will work out to be faster, overall, than the equivalent flat course.
While downhill acceleration is advantageous, it doesn’t quite work the way you’ve described it. Any momentum built up from speeding downhill in a racing chair is depleted once you begin another uphill climb; long before the climb is completed. And it usually doesn’t happen that downhill portions immediately precede an uphill climb. If that were always the case when it came to hills, then yes, the hills could work more to a wheeler’s advantage.
That’s probably part of it, but the Boston Marathon starts the elite women some time before the elite men. That way everything builds up to the finish of the men’s race, which is the marquee event of the day.
Or just race Boston, where the majority of the course is downhill. 
The first 3-4 miles has significant downhill. Only the Newton Hills have significant up, and while they are a grunt (trust me) I suspect they don’t overcome the first 15 miles of mostly downhill or flat to a wheelchair racer. The last five miles is mostly downhill as well, but the trolley track crossings probably aren’t fun in a wheelchair since they aren’t perpendicular.
The first 3-4 miles of Boston are a major downhill, and the wheelchairs just fly down that section. It wouldn’t be safe to have that with 26,000 runners in the mix. They pretty much have to go first with no one else on the course.
I think wind resistance throws a wrench in this theory (the whole square root of speed thing). I have hit over 50 mph on a very steep downhill on a bicycle and that speed would not carry you up a small fraction of the same size hill even if it was conveniently located at the bottom of the downhill.
On most normal hills a bicycle tops out at around 35mph without pedaling and you loose that speed pretty quick on an uphill of the same steepness.
I imagine a wheelchair would have the same issues and I don’t know how they would handle at speeds that high.
Speed squared, not square root. And yes, there are energy losses due to air resistance and other friction-like forces. You don’t get back up the next hill completely for free; you still have to put in some energy yourself. But you still keep a fair chunk of your energy. I used to bike about 5 miles to work every day, and the easiest stretch both ways was the deep river valley.
After digging into it*, I’m a little surprised to see how close the results are in short races. I thought that foot runners’ superior acceleration would give them a sharp advantage, but the difference in records is only about one second in the 100 meters, just a few seconds in the 200 and 400 meters, and wheelchair racers take over the speed records at the 800 meters by about ten seconds or more. I thought that in very short races, foot runners would hold the advantage firmly, but I guess that’s not the case. I know that one second is an eternity in the 100 meters, but it’s closer than I’d have guessed.
*I can’t find world records for wheelchair racing, so I used the 2011 records.