History Main / EpicRace

* The Isle of Man TT is a superbike time trial set on the Snaefell Mountain Course on the Isle of Man. The event is very challenging for riders and very dangerous, with ''216'' total fatalities on the course throughout its history.

* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: The Run'' has the protagonist competing in a race across the country to settle a debt with the mob.

** ''Cannonball'', the first of the films to come out, starring Creator/DavidCarradine. This is also the only film inspired by the Cannonball not billed as a comedy.

%%* The many around-the-world races of all kinds, stretching back at least to the 1908 New York to Paris race.

%% Example on this page have been alphabetized. Please insert new examples in the correct order.

* ''WesternAnimation/TurboTeen'' had an episode where the heroes have to transport a witness to a trial in New York through a cross-country road race called The Daredevil Run. The other races leave them alone, but they have to contend with the defendant's enforcers and recurring villain The Dark Rider.

%%* Vuelta a España

%% Zero-Context Examples are not allowed on Wiki pages. All such examples have been commented out. Ad context to the entries before uncommenting them.

** The race between a Mercedes-Benz and a cruise ship.

* ''TabletopGame40000'':
** The ork BadassBiker warboss Wazdakka Gutsmek has a dream of creating portals on different planets so he can one day ride his Bike of da Aporkalypse from one end of the galaxy to the other without ever getting off.
** The Changeling (a favored daemon of Tzeentch) once convinced an entire ork clan that their gods Gork and Mork had once raced each other. To emulate them the orks hurriedly organized a vast race... and drove right off a cliff.

* ''Series/{{Drive}}'' depicted a cross-country road race with some rather shady organizers. Unfortunately, only [[CutShort six episodes were produced]] and the entrants only got as far as Cleveland (starting from Florida).

* The 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy," was not a race against other competitors, but a race against nature itself -- twenty mushers and over a hundred and fifty dogs undertook a 674-mile journey in blizzard conditions to save Nome, Alaska from a diphtheria epidemic after aircraft proved unusable. The serum arrived in five and a half days, a feat that has never been duplicated.
** The Iditarod, a 1150-mile dogsled race, is in part a commemoration of this last great hurrah and SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome of dog-sledding.

%% * ''Bite the Bullet''

* ''Film/RatRace'': While mostly automobile, some of the participants takes trains, helicopters and even a hot air balloon.

* ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' may be the TropeCodifier. The plot centers around a race against time as protagonist Phileas Fogg attempts to win an argument that the completion of an Indian railway section would make it possible to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. (This was in 1873.) Travel is mostly done by rail or boat.

!!Automobiles & Motorcycles

%% * ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' and its various adaptations contains a number of epic races.
%% * ''Anime/RedLine''.

%% * ''Film/DeathRace2000'', though the focus is more on running over pedestrians.
* ''Film/DeathRace'', an InNameOnly remake of ''Death Race 2000''. In this case, it's a NASCAR-style track race where part of the goal is to kill the other racers. ''Death Race 3'' changes the race to a Baja 1000-inspired desert rally.
* ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'' has Creator/BurtReynolds as a bootlegger who attempts to deliver a tractor trailer full of beer to a millionaire in a limited amount of time. Along the way, he has to match wits with an overenthusiastic sheriff.
* ''Film/TheGreatRace'', inspired by the 1908 New York to Paris race, has the protagonist and his arch rival competing in custom cars.

* ''Film/MidnightMadness'' features five teams of college students taking part in am all-night puzzle hunt in Los Angeles.
%%* ''Monte Carlo or Bust'' (aka ''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies''), the sequel to ''Film/ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines'' (see below), switched from planes to automobiles.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The endurance races from the ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'' series which have been getting longer as the series progresses. The fourth and fifth games even have races lasting a full twenty-four hours.
* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: The Run'' has the protagonist competing in a race across the country to settle a debt with the mob.
* Sega's ''VideoGame/RadMobile'' is the first-person ''Outrun''/''Rad Racers'' inspired game that invoke racing across multiple locations from western to eastern United States of America.
* ''VideoGame/TheCrew'' has a number of Faction Missions involving these. The longest of these, "Frontier Tour", lasts between three and four hours. Hopefully, your controller is fully charged.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''Tom Slick'' from the classic ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' once raced Baron Otto Matic from St. Louis to New York. The Baron cheats by giving Slick a map that sends him to California instead.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Endurance races such as 24 Heures du Mans, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
** Also, parodies such as [[http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ The 24 Hours of LeMons,]] where each car must cost $500 or less, including both purchase cost and cost of any repairs/enhancements! [[note]]Cooking the books isn't a great idea because the [[MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours administration can choose to buy your car for $500.]][[/note]]
* Numerous cross-country races, including the one which inspired ''Film/TheCannonballRun.''
* The many around-the-world races of all kinds, stretching back at least to the 1908 New York to Paris race.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baja_1000 Baja 1000,]] one of the few races with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baja_1000#Sabotage_and_booby-traps spectator-created booby traps.]]
* The Isle of Man TT is a superbike time trial set on the Snaefell Mountain Course on the Isle of Man. The event is very challenging for riders and very dangerous, with ''216'' total fatalities on the course throughout its history.

!!Horses

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'' features an extreme example, with a race across the USA starting in San Diego and ending in New York. Even without the bizarre plot involving [[FightingSpirit Stand battles]], the president of the USA, and [[spoiler:the mummified body parts of Jesus]], it's still an extraordinarily long and dangerous race which goes on for 116 days. Of the 3852 people said to have entered, only 39 make it to the finish line, and 88 participants lose their lives during the 6000 km race.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
%% * ''Bite the Bullet''
* ''Film/{{Hidalgo}}'' ([[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory allegedly based on a true story]])
[[/folder]]

!!Spacecraft

%%[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
%%* ''Anime/OutlawStar'' has a space race episode.
%%* ''Anime/SpaceDandy'' also.
%%[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Literature]]
%%* Franchise/StarTrek novel ''The Great Starship Race''.
%%[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
%%* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', episode "Drive".
%%* ''Series/StargateSG1'', episode "Space Race".
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* The third segment of the ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' episode “The Moon” is set in a world where the Space Race ended in a tie when America and the Soviet Union landed on the Moon at the same time in 1955. Since then, the two nations compete in a literal space race each year. The winner gets to determine lunar policy for the next lunar year.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Western Animation]]
%%* ''WesternAnimation/ObanStarRacers'': The show's premise.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/YogisSpaceRace''.
%%[[/folder]]

!!Footraces

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/StephenKing, writing as Richard Bachman -- ''Literature/TheLongWalk''. It's a foot race run by 100 teenage boys, the so-called "walkers", with the following rules: if you drop below 4 miles an hour, you get a warning. Receiving 3 warnings in quick succession gets you killed. And as a final touch, it has no finish -- it lasts until there's only one surviving walker. It's written by Stephen King -- were you expecting a happy ending?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* On the future Mars of ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace: In the Well'', there's the Olympus Mons biathalon. You start by climbing the 15km-tall cliffs that make up the edge of the Olympus volcano -- with a bicycle on your back -- then you bike 300km to the caldera at the center.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Real Life]]
%%* Ultramarathons, particularly those that exceed 100 miles.
%%[[/folder]]

!!Multiple Modes of Transport

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'', Part 7 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', involves a cross-continental race. It is almost entirely a horse race, with the exception of [[BadassNative Sandman]], who just decided to run it on foot.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Literature]]
%%* ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' may be the TropeCodifier.
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' tells of a group of motorists who learn of a hidden treasure and try to get to it before the others. Transportation includes cars, planes, and even bicycles.
* ''Film/RatRace'': While mostly automobile, some of the participants takes trains, helicopters and even a hot air balloon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' usually has the contestants racing around the world. Planes are the usual method of transportation between countries, but transportation within countries uses cars, buses, trains, rickshaws, foot, and many other methods.
* The now-forgotten reality series ''Lost'' (no, not [[Series/{{Lost}} that one]]), in which contestants were dropped off in an unknown location somewhere in the world and had to find their way back home.
* NBC's ''Treasure Hunters'', which combined this trope with TreasureMap and lasted one season. Cars are normally used to move around, but two legs took place in Europe and planes were required to go there.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb: [[VerySpecialEpisode Summer Belongs to You!]]'' has the title characters attempt to circumnavigate the world on the summer solstice. FinaglesLaw bites ''hard''.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Real Life]]
%%* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-Challenge Eco-Challenge]] marathon (1995-2002).
%%[[/folder]]

!!Other

%%[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
%%* ''Manga/OnePiece'' third film, ''Anime/DeadEndAdventure'', had this as the main plot with the Straw Hats getting involved in a boat race.
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Issue #5 of ''ComicBook/SteelgripStarkeyAndTheAllPurposePowerTool'' features an "Around-the-World Super Construction Race", combining both a footrace with feats of engineering.
* In the ''Comicbook/SuskeEnWiske'' comic "Het Sprekende Testament" (The Speaking Testament), the heroes of the series race in a modified train that drives on (and off) the road.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/EarthAndSky'': Twilight Sparkle ends up testing her experimental flying harness against the Flim-Flam Brothers (AKA Professor Destiny and Doctor Insanity) and their rocket-powered flying rig in the Grand Pegathalon, an epic flying race that goes all around Equestria's borders. As the first non-pegasus entrants in the Pegathalon, they end up opening the gates for flying species from across Equestria and beyond (including griffins, a ''qilin'', and even [[{{Pun}} a winged buffalo]]) to compete.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
%%* The Disney movie ''Film/IronWill'' about a dogsled race.
%%* ''Film/ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines'' involves an airplane race. Its sequel, ''Film/MonteCarloOrBust'', involves an auto race (see above).
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Ian Watson's story "The Great Atlantic Swimming Race" (swimming past the whole Atlantic Ocean) has a satirical bent.
* ''The Race'' by Creator/CliveCussler and Creator/JustinScott involves a cross-country airplane race in 1909. The series' main character, Isaac Bell, is assigned to protect the favorite to win from her estranged husband. [[spoiler:However, there is more to this than meets the eye.]]
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
%%* ''Series/IditarodTheToughestRaceOnEarth'' is a RealityShow about the real-life Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' [[TheMovie film]], ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure'', had this as their main plot. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes had to race around the world in hot air balloons, dropping off and collecting dolls. Unbeknownst to both parties, they're being used as {{Unwitting Pawn}}s in a gem-smuggling ring.
* ''WesternAnimation/WhatANightmareCharlieBrown'' has Snoopy dreaming he's an Arctic sled dog in a long-distance mush race.
** ''WesternAnimation/RaceForYourLifeCharlieBrown'' involves the kids in a whitewater-rafting race that spans a couple days and nights.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance, a 3500-km bicycle race.
%%* Also Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España.
* The Iditarod, a 1150-mile dogsled race.
* The 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy," was not a race against other competitors, but a race against nature itself -- twenty mushers and over a hundred and fifty dogs undertook a 674-mile journey in blizzard conditions to save Nome, Alaska from a diphtheria epidemic after aircraft proved unusable. The serum arrived in five and a half days, a feat that has never been duplicated. The Iditarod, mentioned above, is in part a commemoration of this last great hurrah and SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome of dog-sledding.
[[/folder]]

* The seventh story arc of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'', takes place over the course of a cross-country horse race.

* ''Monte Carlo or Bust'' (aka ''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies''), the sequel to ''Film/ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines'' (see below), switched from planes to automobiles.
* The El Dorado race from the climax of the 1969 version of ''Film/TheLoveBug''.
** And the Paris-to-Monte Carlo race in the third film.
* The Casa Cristo 5000 from ''Film/SpeedRacer''.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/OutlawStar'' has a space race episode.
* ''Anime/SpaceDandy'' also.

* Franchise/StarTrek novel ''The Great Starship Race''.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', episode "Drive".
* ''Series/StargateSG1'', episode "Space Race".

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* The third segment of the ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' episode “The Moon” is set in a world where the Space Race ended in a tie when America and the Soviet Union landed on the Moon at the same time in 1955. Since then, the two nations compete in a literal space race each year. The winner gets to determine lunar policy for the next lunar year.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ObanStarRacers'': The show's premise.
* ''WesternAnimation/YogisSpaceRace''.

!!Footraces

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/StephenKing, writing as Richard Bachman -- ''Literature/TheLongWalk''. It's a foot race run by 100 teenage boys, the so-called "walkers", with the following rules: if you drop below 4 miles an hour, you get a warning. Receiving 3 warnings in quick succession gets you killed. And as a final touch, it has no finish -- it lasts until there's only one surviving walker. It's written by Stephen King -- were you expecting a happy ending?

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* On the future Mars of ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace: In the Well'', there's the Olympus Mons biathalon. You start by climbing the 15km-tall cliffs that make up the edge of the Olympus volcano -- with a bicycle on your back -- then you bike 300km to the caldera at the center.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Ultramarathons, particularly those that exceed 100 miles.

!!Multiple Modes of Transport

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'', Part 7 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', involves a cross-continental race. It is almost entirely a horse race, with the exception of [[BadassNative Sandman]], who just decided to run it on foot.

* ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' may be the TropeCodifier.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' tells of a group of motorists who learn of a hidden treasure and try to get to it before the others. Transportation includes cars, planes, and even bicycles.
* ''Film/RatRace'': While mostly automobile, some of the participants takes trains, helicopters and even a hot air balloon.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' usually has the contestants racing around the world. Planes are the usual method of transportation between countries, but transportation within countries uses cars, buses, trains, rickshaws, foot, and many other methods.
* The now-forgotten reality series ''Lost'' (no, not [[Series/{{Lost}} that one]]), in which contestants were dropped off in an unknown location somewhere in the world and had to find their way back home.
* NBC's ''Treasure Hunters'', which combined this trope with TreasureMap and lasted one season. Cars are normally used to move around, but two legs took place in Europe and planes were required to go there.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb: [[VerySpecialEpisode Summer Belongs to You!]]'' has the title characters attempt to circumnavigate the world on the summer solstice. FinaglesLaw bites ''hard''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-Challenge Eco-Challenge]] marathon (1995-2002).
[[/folder]]

!!Other

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' third film, ''Anime/DeadEndAdventure'', had this as the main plot with the Straw Hats getting involved in a boat race.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Issue #5 of ''ComicBook/SteelgripStarkeyAndTheAllPurposePowerTool'' features an "Around-the-World Super Construction Race", combining both a footrace with feats of engineering.
* In the ''Comicbook/SuskeEnWiske'' comic "Het Sprekende Testament" (The Speaking Testament), the heroes of the series race in a modified train that drives on (and off) the road.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/EarthAndSky'': Twilight Sparkle ends up testing her experimental flying harness against the Flim-Flam Brothers (AKA Professor Destiny and Doctor Insanity) and their rocket-powered flying rig in the Grand Pegathalon, an epic flying race that goes all around Equestria's borders. As the first non-pegasus entrants in the Pegathalon, they end up opening the gates for flying species from across Equestria and beyond (including griffins, a ''qilin'', and even [[{{Pun}} a winged buffalo]]) to compete.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The Disney movie ''Film/IronWill'' about a dogsled race.
* ''Film/ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines'' involves an airplane race. Its sequel, ''Film/MonteCarloOrBust'', involves an auto race (see above).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Ian Watson's story "The Great Atlantic Swimming Race" (swimming past the whole Atlantic Ocean) has a satirical bent.
* ''The Race'' by Creator/CliveCussler and Creator/JustinScott involves a cross-country airplane race in 1909. The series' main character, Isaac Bell, is assigned to protect the favorite to win from her estranged husband. [[spoiler:However, there is more to this than meets the eye.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/IditarodTheToughestRaceOnEarth'' is a RealityShow about the real-life Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' [[TheMovie film]], ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure'', had this as their main plot. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes had to race around the world in hot air balloons, dropping off and collecting dolls. Unbeknownst to both parties, they're being used as {{Unwitting Pawn}}s in a gem-smuggling ring.
* ''WesternAnimation/WhatANightmareCharlieBrown'' has Snoopy dreaming he's an Arctic sled dog in a long-distance mush race.
** ''WesternAnimation/RaceForYourLifeCharlieBrown'' involves the kids in a whitewater-rafting race that spans a couple days and nights.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The UsefulNotes/TourDeFrance, a 3500-km bicycle race.
* Also Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España.
* The Iditarod, a 1150-mile dogsled race.
* The 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the "Great Race of Mercy," was not a race against other competitors, but a race against nature itself -- twenty mushers and over a hundred and fifty dogs undertook a 674-mile journey in blizzard conditions to save Nome, Alaska from a diphtheria epidemic after aircraft proved unusable. The serum arrived in five and a half days, a feat that has never been duplicated. The Iditarod, mentioned above, is in part a commemoration of this last great hurrah and SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome of dog-sledding.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld''

* ''Series/TheAmazingRace''

* NBC's ''Treasure Hunters'', which combined this trope with TreasureMap and lasted one season.

* ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' and its various adaptations contains a number of epic races.
* ''Anime/RedLine''.

* ''Film/DeathRace2000'', though the focus is more on running over pedestrians.

* The 1967 classic ’’WesternAnimation/WackyRaces’’ and its [[WesternAnimation/WackyRaces2017 2017 reboot]] involve a bunch of crazy cars with outrageous drivers.
* Tom Slick from the classic WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle drives his Thunderbolt Greaseslapper in one crazy race after another.

* ''Bite the Bullet''

* ’’WesternAnimation/WackyRaces’’ involves 11 crazy cars.

* ’’WesternAnimation/WackyRaces’’ involves 11 crazy cars.

* Arguably, the various ''Series/TopGear'' Specials, although (except for the Polar Special) "get there first" was not the challenge. That said, more traditional {{Epic Race}}s have appeared on the show: the economy race from Basel, Switzerland to the Blackpool Illuminations took 17 hours; and the car vs. public transport race from Heathrow to Oslo took still longer.

This may involve WackyRacing or it may not: the distinguishing characteristic of an EpicRace is the extreme length (generally 12 hours or more), not its idiosyncratic nature. An EpicRace is ''so long'' that the challenge of merely going that distance in the time adds interest, irrespective of anything else.

* The endurance races from the ''VideoGame/GranTurismo'' series which have been getting longer as the series progresses.