The Borderland Army

[Master of the Blades]

here is an example of long distance traveling by Aiel.

 

(TFoH A Wager). They were in Eilron near the Jangai Pass. About 400 miles from Cairhien. 300,000+ spears and Wise Ones with Rand left on Sept 2nd and arrived at the outskirts of Cairhien on Sept 9th. Seven days to cover 400 miles. that is a rate of fifty miles per day. If days are similar to what we know dayling would be about twelve hours. Give an hour each for setting up and breaking camp and one hour to or so to eat at midday they would cover somewhere around 55 miles per day in a nine hour span. That translates to about six miles per hour. A rate similar to marathon runners. It would appear that Aiel are not boasting about being able to keep pace with a horse, there is evidence they can.

[Guest Anonymous!]

The relevant quote I found in TFoH, Chapter 30 A Wager was in the discussion between Rand, the Aiel, the lords from Tear and Cairhein. They are in the town Eianrod, which is located at an undisclosed distance from Cairhein, and is located in the Nation of Cairhein, not in Jangai Pass. The Tear lord, Edorion, had just made the estimate that Cairhein could hold for another 7 days, and then this interaction followed:

“How long?” Rand asked Rhurac.

“Seven days” was the reply. Mangin nodded, and Estean laughed.

“Burn my soul, it took us as long to reach here on horses…”

 

Estean proceeds to doubt the Aiel mobility for the rest of the paragraph. Well it pretty much sounds like Aiel can move as far as light horse units over long distances. Rand then elaborates on the speed and endurance of horses over Aiel in the next paragraph saying the following:

“It isn’t how fast they can make it,” Rand said quietly, “but how fast you can, if you dismount some of your men and use their horses for spares. I want to let Meilan and Cairhein know that help is on the way…”

 

There are two important points in that quote. 1) Rhurac did not factor non-Aiel runners into his calculation of how long it will take to reach Cairhein. 2) That men using a multi-horse system can outdistance Aiel units. Which makes sense, since the real-world Mongols used to be able to go very far distances using a multi-horse rotation system.

 

But just like that Jordan takes any realism associated with the Aiel and destroys it before the end of the chapter writing:

 

“Warning the city’s defenders is well and good, Rand al’Thor,” Rhurac went on, “but we should send scouts. Running, they can reach Cairhein as soon a those men on horses, and meet us coming back with word of how Couladin has disposed the Shaido.”

 

Either way this does not shed any light on how fast the Aiel can run a 100 - 400 meters.

[Master of the Blades]

Rand and company emerged from the Jangai Pass on August 31 at Selean. They meet with Estean and Edorion in Einrod on September 1st. They are much closer to the Jangai pass than to Cairhien. The estimated distance from Einrd to Cairhien using a scale of 1" per two hundred miles is 400 miles.

 

Your quotes show that the Aiel can maintain sprint speeds ove long distances, ie they can run marathons at sprinter speeds since they can keep up with cavalry equipped with remounts. We also know from the (DR Threads in the Pattern) that nineteen Aiel challenged Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne mounted on horses to a race to Jurene. We also know from (NS The Hook) that the Tairens hunting the Aiel needed Lan's Forceto slow the Aiel down so they could attack them.

 

This evidence is dufficient to tell us that the Aiel are as fast as horses in a sprint or over long diatances. Aiel are long distance sprinters.

[Guest Anonymous!]

Even if this is true:

 

400 miles in 7 days = 57 miles/day.

 

If they travel that distance in 8 hours that would be a shade over 7 miles per hour. More than likely since they usually travel around 40 miles/day, the Aiel army is just traveling for more hours during the day. More than likely they do 40 miles in a day over 8 hours of travel for 5 mph.

 

Sprinting for normal humans is at distances below 400 meters...today. Most sprinters can achieve speeds between 15-20 mph for those short distances, with the fastest ever getting in the 23 mph range. The Aiel are not maintaining sprinters speeds, they are maintaining distance runners speeds. Ultramarathoners run distances over 26.2 miles at speeds in excess of 6 miles per hour.