A couple months ago we published an article with the best running movies of all-time. Well, we’re back at it, but this time we’re looking at the best running documentaries ever made.
The documentaries are ranked based on the average rating at IMDB and Amazon. While we wanted to include our own opinions, we left that out of the rating in the table. Instead, below the table you’ll find our top three picks.
If the movie looks interesting to you, we included a “Watch it Here” link. There were a couple we couldn’t find active links to, so if you happen to find any we didn’t link to be sure to let us know.
| Rank | Movie Poster | Movie Name | Where to Watch | Average Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |   | The Barkley Marathons | Watch it Here | 9.0 |
| 2 | | Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story | Watch it Here | 8.9 |
| 3 |   | Unbreakable: The Western States | Watch it Here | 8.8 |
| 4 |   | Hood to Coast | Watch it Here | 8.8 |
| 5 |   | Desert Runners | Watch it Here | 8.6 |
| 6 |   | The Long Green Line | Watch it Here | 8.6 |
| 7 |   | Transcend | Watch it Here | 8.5 |
| 8 |   | Spirit of the Marathon | Watch it Here | 8.4 |
| 9 |   | Spirit of the Marathon II | Watch it Here | 8.4 |
| 10 |   | Eric Liddel: Champion of Conviction | Watch it Here | 8.1 |
| 11 |   | Run for Your Life | Watch it Here | 7.7 |
| 12 |   | Running the Sahara | Watch it Here | 7.7 |
| 13 |   | My Run | Watch it Here | 7.5 |
| 14 |   | Running With Demons | Watch it Here | 7.5 |
| 15 |  | Running on the Sun | Watch it Here | 7.4 |
| 16 |   | Running for Jim | Watch it Here | 7.4 |
| 17 |   | Run Free | Watch it Here | 7.3 |
| 18 |   | The Corridor Runner | Watch it Here | 7.2 |
| 19 |   | The Last Mile | Watch it Here | 7.2 |
| 20 |   | Running America | Watch it Here | 6.8 |
| 21 |   | There is No Finish Line | Watch it Here | 6.7 |
| 22 |   | Jim Ryun: America's Greatest Miler | Watch it Here | 6.5 |
| 23 |   | Fast Women | Watch it Here | 5.7 |
Our Favorites
All rankings and ratings aside, after watching that many documentaries we definitely have our own favorites.
- Fire on the Track. We’re huge Prefontaine fans, so this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
- Desert Runners. One of the best ultra marathon documentaries we’ve ever seen.
- Hood to Coast. It might be because we live in Oregon, but the we could watch the world’s longest relay over and over.
Over To You
As you may have noticed our Top 25 list is missing 2 documentaries…
After weeks of research and watching movies, we’re still 2 short. So, please let us know in the comments below if you think we’ve missed any.
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