# Why run counterclockwise? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 1999, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775 "1999-08-23T01:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/1 "1999-08-23T01:10:00Z")
Race cars, runners, rollerskaters all go counterclockwise. I’m sure this has come up before, but I’m too lazy to look it up. In races with an audience, the racers go left to right as you view it, like we read. That’s pretty lame, though. Do they race the other way in Israel and arab countries? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/2 "1999-08-23T01:21:00Z")
Well, if the race is on a closed loop (circle or oval), approximately 1/2 of the race would be from left to right as the audience sees it and approximately 1/2 would be right to left. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/3 "1999-08-23T01:51:00Z")
Yeah, but you really have to see the vertical races in China. * * * Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University “Try to learn everything. You Never know when something trivial might prove useful.” ---
**Author:** ![pmh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@pmh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/4 "1999-08-23T01:56:00Z")
My experience: In a left drive car (steering wheel on the left side), it’s easier to feel what the car is doing (is it pushing?, loose?) when you are on the inside of the turn (closer to the focus of the arc). Plus it’s nice to have that extra space and metal between you and the wall. Doesn’t apply to indy, sprint, etc, but that’s my WAG. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Hall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ebca7d/32.png) [@Rich\_Hall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Hall)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/5 "1999-08-23T11:28:00Z")
I don’t race cars, but I do have rollerblades. And it seems there is a natural tendency for people to go counterclockwise in any rink. They have this jogging track at the Y that reverses direction every day(odd days/even days). I never go on the clockwise days. Maybe my right leg is shorter, because it sure feels better to run counterclockwise and the track is slightly tilted. And yes, I now have skills to run and chew gum at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![NeedAHobby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@NeedAHobby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeedAHobby)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/6 "1999-08-23T12:26:00Z")
Theory: since the spectators of a closed-loop racing event are positioned on the outside of the loop and Westerners are accustomed to events travelling from left to right, events with a lot of Western spectators should be run counterclockwise. * * * Hey, aren’t you supposed to be at work? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/7 "1999-08-23T12:33:00Z")
Just a speculation, but in the U.S., horses raced counterclockwise on a circular course long before cars. People were just used to that way when cars came around. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/8 "1999-08-23T13:04:00Z")
\*sunbear: Race cars, runners, rollerskaters all go counterclockwise. I’m sure this has come up before, but I’m too lazy to look it up. In races with an audience, the racers go left to right as you view it, like we read. That’s pretty lame, though. Do they race the other way in Israel and arab countries? \* Actually, that’s only in the Northern Hemisphere that races go counterclockwise. In Australia, Argentina, S. Africa and other place south of the equator, they run clockwise. Also, in Quito, Ecuador, they don’t have any circuit races at all, for safety’s sake. \JK\ ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Mal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Mark\_Mal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Mal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/9 "1999-08-23T13:46:00Z")
{{Also, in Quito, Ecuador, they don’t have any circuit races at all, for safety’s sake.}} No, no. They use a figure-eight track which crosses the equator exactly at the midpoint. ---
**Author:** ![TheIncredibleHolg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@TheIncredibleHolg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheIncredibleHolg)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/10 "1999-08-23T15:01:00Z")
And I hate it when a dog race it ruined because all the mutts lie down. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/11 "1999-08-23T16:20:00Z")
I suspect it has something to do with which hand the chariot drivers held the reins in, back in the days they raced at Circus Maximus. ---
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/12 "1999-08-23T22:14:00Z")
Actually, as a former sprinter, the reason is simple: When you run (properly) aroudn a corner, you use your arms to “pull” you around the corner (yes, you really do. Try it some time). Since most people are right-arm-dominant, it is easier to run counterclockwise. But then again, this may just be a random coinkiedink. The need for a standard may indeed be far more important than which arbitrary standard is ultimately chosen. * * * Jason R Remy “No amount of legislation can solve America’s problems.” – Jimmy Carter (1980) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/13 "1999-08-23T22:49:00Z")
## Also, it has been demonstrated that running (or flying)very quickly clockwise makes you travel backwards in time, while counterclockwise travel brings you to the future. It would be inconvienient if during the course of a race one of the participants cracked the light-speed barrier and finished the race before it started. To avoid possible chrono-synclastic infundibulae, the Powers That Be decided in ancient Mu to have all races occur in the counter-clockwise (or widdershins) direction… Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University “Try to learn everything. You Never know when something trivial might prove useful.” ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/14 "1999-08-24T00:34:00Z")
OK, I’ll take that last one, unless someone has the **real** reason. ---
**Author:** ![TheIncredibleHolg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@TheIncredibleHolg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheIncredibleHolg)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/15 "1999-08-24T08:56:00Z")
Racing never worked for me. Clockwise or counterclockwise, whenever I reached the 4 o’clock position, I’d stop and wonder why it said IIII rather than IV. ---
**Author:** ![typertrphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@typertrphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typertrphy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/16 "1999-08-24T12:45:00Z")
IncredibleHolg? That’s an easy one. The first sun dials were marble, with the numeration carved into the stone. One runs a greater risk of splitting a stone when one carves a “V” shape, opposed to many " IIII" shapes. The carvers of yore were just playing the percentages… Typer ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-run-counterclockwise/2775/17 "1999-08-24T14:31:00Z")
Actually the answer to the IIII vs. IV is not that simple. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_153.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_153.html)