Ranking Popular Running Race Distances (My Opinion)
Hello everyone, I’m Craig and this is Running Cafe.
Having just gotten back into running after having some extended time off, it’s been a slow start for me to ease myself back into the training.
As I’ve been doing mostly walking, with a few runs mixed in, I was reflecting on some of the races I’ve done over the years and decided it would be a bit of fun to rank popular race distances.
Caveats
Before I reveal my rankings, I want to mention a few important caveats. Whilst a race distance is a race distance, there are various factors which can influence how easy or how hard a particular race may feel. These include:
1. The weather
Whilst it’s possible to have a rough idea of what the weather might look like on race day (if it’s in summer, then you might expect hot temperatures), it’s currently (as of 2025) impossible to predict the weather with 100% pinpoint accuracy. A race may feel much harder if it’s too hot or too cold, if there’s heavy rain or fog then these can reduce your visibility, or if the conditions are ‘just right’ then it may feel much easier to you.
2. Terrain
Typically, it’s easier to get better foot holds on road or paved surfaces compared to trail running. On the road, I can find myself barely looking at my where my feet are going and keep my eyes focused in front of me whereas on trails I’m much more inclined to focus on my footing. As a result, I find that running on trail terrains such as through woodlands, mountains or coastal regions much harder compared to paved road surfaces and this tends to reflect in my race results.
3. Elevation gain and descent
This refers to the combined increase and decrease in altitude throughout a race, typically measured in feet or metres. Uphill segments in a race can slow you down as it’s more of a strain on the body, whereas downhill segments can give you the opportunity to ‘let it rip’ and hammer it downwards. That said, too many steep downhill segments in a race can have major problems for your quadriceps and cause muscular fatigue which can impact your performance throughout the race.
4. Your fitness
This is an obvious one, but certainly worth mentioning. If you’re well trained, conditioned and feeling fit as a fiddle for the race distance in question, you’re more likely to find it easier and perform better than someone who is not properly fit for a given race distance.
Therefore, my rankings in this article should be considered highly general and based on my personal experiences and opinions.
The ranking system I’m using
You may have seen the ‘SABC’ ranking system online somewhere, as it’s commonly used to rate a variety of things including foods, video games, movies, TV shows and more.
If you’re not familiar with it, then think of a grading system you may be familiar with from school e.g., A is the best score, B is a slightly lower score but still good, C is an OK score, and so on. This applies for this ranking system with the exception that there is an ‘S’ tier, meaning that something is ‘super’ or ‘superb’ and this is considered the best ranking score available.
Okay, with all of that said let’s get into the rankings!
5KM
First on the list is the 5KM distance. 5,000 metres or 3.1 miles, this is considered a classic race distance and is popular amongst runners all over the world. In fact, I bet that virtually all readers of this article have done at least one 5KM in their lifetime.
Personally, I’m a big fan of 5KM races. They’re approachable for runners of all fitness levels, they’re incredibly common, and they give an opportunity to immerse yourself into the running community in a competitive scenario (if you want competition) without being too far a distance that it can make you feel exhausted by the end of it.
One of the main reasons why I love 5KM distances is because this is the race format that Parkrun events take. Parkrun is a fantastic global initiative of weekly 5KM races set up and run by the community, for the community. Incredibly popular in the UK, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and many other countries, I love Parkruns because they provide an opportunity to participate in a weekly timed 5KM which allows you to measure progress overtime whilst having the chance to socialise with existing contacts in your network and meeting more along the way.
For these reasons, I’m placing the 5KM into the A tier.
10KM
Next on the list is the 10KM. 10,000 metres or 6.2 miles, this is also a fairly popular race distance but – from what I can tell – not as popular as the 5KM.
Personally, I’ve only done a few 10KM races in my time running and these have mainly been in cross country running scenarios with my running club. The ones I’ve taken part in, like the Knole Park cross country race, felt highly competitive with most runners absolutely going for it.
One of my most humorous running moments on my YouTube channel comes from falling over during the Minnis Bay cross country 10KM. If you fancy a good laugh, you can watch it below and skip to approximately half-way into the video.
Whilst I’ve not done many 10KM races, the ones I have taken part in have felt high-paced, serious and all guns blazing, and I can’t say I’ve had the most fun running them.
I’ll still do 10KM races in the future, but they’re not my favourite.
For these reasons, I’m placing the 10KM into the C tier.
10 Miler
Next is the 10 Mile race distance. From what I can tell, there’s not many 10 mile races around and I have personally never actually done a 10 mile race.
However, it looks to be a decent race for upping the mileage in a race scenario. Particularly for beginners or runners looking to gradually increase race distance up to the half-marathon mark.
Because of my lack of experience in doing 10 milers, I’m going to place it into the C tier.
Half Marathon
I’m a massive fan of half marathons, and I’ve done well over 30 of them in my years of running. Possibly over 40. Needless to say, I have tonnes of half marathon medals in my race medal collection!
My personal best is 1 hour 22 minutes, though I couldn’t do that now after having taken extended time out.
What I like about half marathons is that they’re long enough to be a meaningful challenge but they’re not too long that there’s a major risk of exhaustion or hitting the dreaded ‘runner’s wall’, which we often associate with the marathon distance.
There’s plenty of half marathons out there, and the good thing about these races is that you can do them more often than marathons as the recovery period tends to be shorter due to the shorter distance. At one point, I was doing at least 2 half marathons a month for about 8 months, and I found it really fun having a reason to explore and visit new places whilst participating in one of my main passions in life – running.
I only have good things to say about half marathons, so I’m going to place it into the S tier alongside the 5KM.
Marathon
This may be surprising for some viewers of my YouTube channel, but I’m not a massive fan of marathons to be totally honest.
When most people hear the word ‘running’, they immediately conjure images in their mind of thousands of marathon runners taking part in famous city events like the London Marathon, Paris Marathon, the Berlin Marathon, and so on.
Personally, I think a marathon is too far to be going at such a fast pace. Whilst they’re a great opportunity to see how fast you can run what is often considered the ‘classic’ running distance (26.2 miles), I’ve always ended up struggling during my marathons.
I’ve probably done about 5 marathons in my time with a personal best of approximately 2 hours 58 minutes (Southampton), and I certainly wouldn’t rush to do a marathon if I got given the choice between one or a half marathon.
All of this said, I’ll still do marathons in the future and I’ll still continue to improve my personal best, they’re just not my cup of tea.
I was going to place the marathon into the C tier, but I’m going to place it into the B tier because a marathon is incredibly famous and synonymous with running as a sport in general.
Therefore, I’m placing the marathon into the B tier.
50KM
Next, we have the 50KM distance which is about 31.1 miles. This is the first on the list which falls into the ultra-marathon category.
Personally, I’m a massive fan of 50KM race distances and I’ve had many great memories doing about 5 of them in the last few years.
They’re great for dipping your toes into the world of ultra running if you’re looking to up the distance from a marathon into an ultra, and they’re also excellent for having an experience at just how special the ultra-running community is which is one of the main reasons why I love ultra-running.
I think the 50KM is a fantastic distance and for that reason, it goes into the A tier.
50 Miler
Personally, I’ve only done one 50 mile race in my time so I definitely lack experience in this distance.
The race was the Wendover 50 Miler by Centurion Running, which takes place in Wendover Woods on the north edge of the Chiltern Hills in England.
It was a really tough day with the course being fairly technical with plenty of elevation gain (approximately 10,000 feet).
I think 50 milers are good for runners looking to up their ultra-running distance from the 50KM (31.1 miles) to the 100KM (62.2 miles) as it provides a manageable stepping stone between the two distances.
I’d highly recommend giving a 50 mile race a go if you’re looking to do a 100KM in the future but you want a bit more experience of what it feels like to run an even greater distance in a race scenario before fully committing to the 100KM mark.
Due to my lack of experience in having done 50 mile races, I’m going to place it into the B tier.
It’s not going into the C tier, alongside the 10 miler and the 10KM distance, because I’m a big fan of ultra running so you could say I’m a little bit biased!
100KM
The first ultra-marathon I ever did was a 100KM race, London 2 Brighton, in 2021, and I have to say it was one of the highlights my running so far.
I was extremely nervous entering the race because it was the furthest distance I had ever attempted, and my first real trail race (up to that point I’d only raced on the road). Despite that, I had an absolute blast taking part and after crossing the finish line I felt a tremendous sense of achievement. What’s more, it made me see just how special and kind the ultra-running community is with everyone supporting one another and plenty of opportunities available for meeting and chatting with others. Needless to say, after having taken part in that race I was hooked on ultra-running.
For me, a 100KM is the sweet spot when it comes to ultra-marathon distances. It’s long enough to be a challenge, it’s long enough to have an adventure, it’s long enough to see enough sights and sounds (typically in the trails), but it’s not too long that it feels like a brutal, gruesome horrific slog.
For me, my most magical running memory comes from doing the Mozart 100KM in Austria in 2023. This was a special day where I ran through and around the Austrian mountains near Salzburg, taking in plenty of beautiful sights and sounds to inspire my ultra-running for a lifetime.
So, for these reasons, a 100KM has to go at the top and I’m placing it into the S tier.
100 Miler
Finally, we have the 100 mile distance and this is seen as – from what I can tell – the gold standard of ultra-running in the ultra-running community.
I’ve only successfully completed one 100 mile race in my years of running – The North Downs Way 100 Mile race by Centurion Running in 2022. It was a really fun, rewarding day but it was really hard, and it taught me that I cannot stress how much the 100 mile race distance should not be under estimated.
Doing a 100 mile distance is a massive physical undertaking, and you need to be properly trained, conditioned, and mentally prepared for the inevitable highs and lows that come with running such a far distance in one effort.
To date, the only race I have ever DNF’d in (did not finish) is the Thames Path 100 which is another Centurion Running race. I have failed this race for three years in a row, from 2022 to 2024. The first time around, my leg muscles weren’t conditioned enough to withstand the pounding of such a long distance. The second time, I was the fittest I’ve ever been so I was in high spirits but I went off too quickly at the finish line and paid the price for it by needing to drop out at about 75 miles in. Finally, my most recent failure comes in May 2024 when I was experiencing some personal issues which meant I couldn’t focus on running or training at all so I hobbled to mile 50 before pulling the plug.
Whilst it sucks to have DNF’d the Thames Path 100 three times in a row, these experiences have been really informative and humbling for me and they’ve taught me some of the most valuable lessons I could hope for in the ultra-running space. I hope to finish it one day, that’s all I can say!
Though 100 mile races are held in such high regard by the ultra running community, I’ve not had too many pleasant experiences taking them on. You could say I’m a bit biased or jaded by them, but it’s just how it is for me at this point in my running.
For this reason, I’m going to place the 100 mile race distance into the B tier.
Conclusion and what are your thoughts?
There you have it! My rankings of popular race distances, based on my personal views, experiences and opinions of having been involved with running for about 8 years.
Let me know what you think in the comments of this article or in the comments section of the YouTube video. Do you agree or disagree with any of my rankings? Let me know why, I’d love to hear what you think.
Thanks very much for reading. I’ve been Craig, this is Running Cafe.
Happy running!
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