Racing.
The expressions here are normally a reference to sports like running or cycling, or even horse racing. They often decribe situations in which you have a time limit or you are trying to maintain an appropriate speed, either at work or study.
Ready, steady, go!
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ahead of the field | To be in a leading or better position than all the other competitors. | “The big companies which are ahead of the field in their specialities are ahead because of their constant investment in innovation.” |
| A dead heat | A race or competition which finishes with two or more competitors in an equal position, with no clear winner. | “The interview process finished in a dead heat between two exceptional candidates, so the company found it very difficult to decide who would get the job.” |
| To fall behind | To lose pace or progress and move into a position behind others. | “I fell behind with my work a little after being off sick for a week.” |
| By a stretch / by quite a stretch | By a considerable distance or margin. | “This time, the gold medallist from the previous Olympics lost by quite a stretch.” |
| A two-horse race | A competition in which only two people, organisations or other competitors have a realistic chance of winning. | “Starting off, it looked like a highly-competitive race that anyone could have won, though it ended up developing into a two-horse race.” |
| A front runner | The person, organisation or competitor currently in the strongest position and most likely to win. | “The front runners for the job are all highly experienced.” |
| A dark horse | An unexpected or relatively unknown competitor who may perform better than expected; also someone whose abilities or intentions are not well known. | “He really is a bit of a dark horse; you never really know what he is thinking.” |
| A head start | An advantage that someone has at the beginning of a race, competition, project or activity. | “Getting a head start is good, but it isn't easy to maintain from the early stages to the home stretch.” |
| To get ahead | To take the lead or move into a more successful or advanced position than others. | “Getting ahead in business is difficult when you are new as the established organisations do not want to surrender their advantage.” |
| To catch up | To recover lost ground and reach the same position, level or stage as somebody who is ahead. | “You need to catch up with the other students as they are way ahead of you in this course.” |
| To lag behind | To progress more slowly than others and remain behind them. | “Some organisations have ended up lagging behind others who took advantage of disastrous economic events during the COVID crisis.” |
| To stay ahead | To maintain a leading or more advanced position. | “When you get ahead, make sure you stay ahead!” |
| A photo finish | An extremely close finish in which the result may need to be studied carefully to determine the winner; figuratively, a very close competition. | “It was a photo finish between the two competitors, so the result had to be studied carefully before the winner could be declared.” |
| The home stretch | The final part of a race; figuratively, the final stage of a project, activity or process. | “We are finally on the home stretch of this project, and will be finished shortly.” |
| The field | The complete group of people or organisations competing in a race, competition or selection process. | “The field was very strong this year, with many new and enthusiastic as well as older, more experienced, competitors.” |
| To play catch-up | To make an extra effort to recover after falling behind. | “I've been playing catch-up all week at work as I was on holiday for the previous fortnight.” |