Watch an Olympic Runner Try to Beat a Go-Kart in a Race Around a Track
On his popular YouTube channel, former Olympic runner Nick Symmonds makes a habit of racing against his fans and subscribers, dangling cash prizes if they manage to beat him (or treats, we assume, in the case of his dog). Until recently, however, those competitions were limited to those on foot—and, okay, those on a scooter.
In his most recent video, Symmonds put himself at a far greater disadvantage, this time allowing his competitor the advantage of four wheels. As Symmonds put it on Instagram, "The only thing better than driving a go-kart is racing one."
For the occasion, Symmonds took to a 135-meter track at Camp Harlow in Eugene, Oregon, to challenge a colleague, Maci Lapray (sister of popular YouTuber AJ Lapray), who works with his company, RunGum.
Symmonds goes first, acknowledging that the track isn't "bent," meaning that "you really have to crank your body to turn around these corners." Symmonds hits the halfway mark at about 11 seconds, and finishes with an impressive 21-second lap. His colleague goes next, and while the go-kart gets off the line slower than Symmonds, its higher top-end speed quickly begins to close the gap.
In the end, it's not enough—the go-kart manages only a 23-second lap, two seconds shy of Symmonds' time, barely giving the Olympian an upset victory. After some brief contemplation, Symmonds and Lapray decide to go for it once more—this time with a distance of four laps instead of one. Check out the video above to see if Symmonds still has the legs to pull out a surprise victory over the go-kart yet again.
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