Distances they run in different sports

Recent technology has made it possible to solve this mystery. So here are the rankings, from least to most…

Baseball

In baseball, we don’t really know. A player occasionally runs 2–300m, if he manages to hit the ball and do a few home runs during the game. Most of the time, he simply trots from the bench to the field and back again… 
In fact, no one has ever measured it, probably because it would be a bit embarrassing…

American Football

You may not quite remember how this sport works. But basically you run from 10 yards to 10 yards on a synthetic turf, and if you reach the end of 10×10 yards, you can throw the ball on the ground while twerking in golden lycra tights.
Whatever. 
But in fact, players move for 11 minutes during a professional match that lasts 60 (4×15), and the fastest runner barely reaches 1.25 miles (or just 2km). But the fastest still reaches 34.5km/h at top speed, which is quite respectable, isn’t it?

Basketball

In basketball, you have to run across a well-shined floor, wearing a wifebeater and shoes that go “kouik, kouik, kouik” with every step, to throw a ball into a basket with a hole in it, that’s too high up. That’s probably why it’s got a hole in it, because otherwise you’d never get the ball back… right?
So, how much do you run if you’re a basketball player in the NBA, the top American professional league, knowing that a game lasts 48 minutes (4×12) in the USA?
Well, the player (Jrue Holiday des New Orleans Pelicans) who ran the longest distance per game during the 2017 season did 2.8 miles per game, or 4.5km… in 48 minutes… nothing too impressive, right?
(Well, it’s true that it’s almost all sprinting, since for much of the match the players sit on the edge of the court in undersized chairs with towels over their heads).

Tennis

In tennis, during a 5-set match (which is by no means the case for all matches), a player can run 4.8km. This is certainly impressive given the rather limited size of a tennis court, but it’s still not that much, especially over several hours, isn’t it?

Rugby

How far do rugby players run, trying to catch that bloody oval ball, which bounces anywhere and everywhere, eventually leading to the scrum, the only way to stop the ball going anywhere. 
So, as soon as possible, they stop running and pile on top of the ball. And when the referee has found who has caught the ball, he raises an arm and blows his whistle. Then everyone puts their shorts back on, and the winner gives the ball back to the happy referee. And so it begins again, since the aim of rugby is to win the match. But it’s not easy, so you have to do tries. 
And by dint of trying, well, rugby players run an average of 6.7km per 80-minute match, often with an opponent on their back, so we could say it’s not bad…

Football/Soccer 

You’ve got to admit that footballers run quite a lot… when they aren’t shouting at the referee or writhing in pain on the pitch, as if their eyes were being cut out with a red-hot rusty fish knife, the pain making them roll across the pitch at a distance inversely proportional to the speed with which they’re shown a stretcher…
The pitch is quite large and a game lasts 90 minutes. Plenty of time for a few round trips.
So, on average, the footballer runs 10–11km per match, except for the goalkeeper, of course, who’s lazy… 
In fact, we should say “goes” rather than “runs”, because here too, during the 90 minutes, many of these km are covered by jogging and walking…  

Running a conclusion

So in the end, after this sharp and pertinent analysis, we have to admit that it’s still running that makes us run the most… isn’t that crazy? 
And running is a great way to discover the world… and it’s even easier with our routes, which make the whole city your own stadium… thanks to our many audio-guided running tours and gpx files available for download…