Running

I'm pretty middle of the pack too, or at least if I'm ever towards the pointy end I'm never a challenger for the overall win. I'm not so sure that approach would work so well for a real head to head battle at the front of the field. The nearest variant is I have a friend who is very fast (32min 10km) and his strategy is to try his hardest to stay on the shoulder of whoever is leading for as long as possible and then attack in the final quarter. He says either it works and you win, or it doesn't and you blow... he doesn't tend to be all that interested in finishing 2nd.

I find the strategy I use works well for me as someone towards the front (say around top 10-20% depending on the race/distance) but not competitive for the overall win. The first half helps prevent me from heading out too fast (as many people do at 21 and 42km) by the time the 3rd quarter comes around most things have settled down so I just make sure I hold my position and try not to let anyone past and then as I say, the hammer goes down in the last quarter.

In the Vienna Marathon I got into a big battle with some guy who tried to come past me just as we entered the final 10km. I raced him flat out and was just on his shoulder the entire way no matter what he tried until eventually I ended up losing out by 20 odd metres in the sprint finish. We mush have passed hundreds of people as we careered towards a 43minute final 10km and a 21:25minute final 5km. I almost collapsed across the line but he turned to give me a congratulatory hug and caught me from falling... it was only then that I realised his number was a different colour and he had been running the 11km anchor leg of some relay team. I ended up trying a bit harder in that race than I had intended but got a PB in the end so all good :)