Watch Humans Race Horses in This Interspecies Marathon

Llanwrtyd Wells, the smallest town in Wales, sees its population double once every year, for its human versus horse marathon. The idea came about 35 years ago from from a conversation held between the owner of a local hotel and a hunter. The query was itself a bit of a dare. Horses are fast enough to have actual speeds named after them, but can we outrun them?

That's the question this video by NPR's Skunk Bear hopes to answer. The video leads us through the marathon and explains why the human body, though sometimes awfully put together, is actually well engineered for long-distance running compared to other animals.

"We've got structures in our inner ears to keep us balanced with all that jostling. Springier tendons than our primate cousins so we bounce as we run to use less energy," the narrator explains.

Humans could also sweat, which meant quite a lot for our ancestors when they lost their fur and ran on two legs a million years ago. The ability to pass off heat when other animals couldn't would mean the difference between dinner and starvation. A pretty great evolved feature I'd say, even if only really comes in handy during marathons and chase scenes these days.