RW UK is referring to Sir Mo Farah and others as “pacemakers”, which I find amusing. The London website lists “pacers”. Do you really call them pacemakers?! (I’ve always liked “rabbits”).
Yes, I realize it’s RW…
https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/news/a33666573/elite-only-london-marathon/
RW UK is referring to Sir Mo Farah and others as “pacemakers”, which I find amusing. The London website lists “pacers”. Do you really call them pacemakers?! (I’ve always liked “rabbits”).
Yes, I realize it’s RW…
https://www.runnersworld.com/...nly-london-marathon/
Where I live they’re called “Tempomacher” or “Hase” (literal translation “tempomaker” or “rabbit”) 
Dr. Tigerchik wrote:
RW UK is referring to Sir Mo Farah and others as “pacemakers”, which I find amusing. The London website lists “pacers”. Do you really call them pacemakers?! (I’ve always liked “rabbits”).
Yes, I realize it’s RW…
https://www.runnersworld.com/...nly-london-marathon/
Where I live they’re called “Tempomacher” or “Hase” (literal translation “tempomaker” or “rabbit”)
What language and country?
Dr. Tigerchik wrote:
RW UK is referring to Sir Mo Farah and others as “pacemakers”, which I find amusing. The London website lists “pacers”. Do you really call them pacemakers?! (I’ve always liked “rabbits”).
Yes, I realize it’s RW…
https://www.runnersworld.com/...nly-london-marathon/
Where I live they’re called “Tempomacher” or “Hase” (literal translation “tempomaker” or “rabbit”)
What language and country?
German/Germany
Dr. Tigerchik wrote:
RW UK is referring to Sir Mo Farah and others as “pacemakers”, which I find amusing. The London website lists “pacers”. Do you really call them pacemakers?! (I’ve always liked “rabbits”).
Yes, I realize it’s RW…
https://www.runnersworld.com/...nly-london-marathon/
Where I live they’re called “Tempomacher” or “Hase” (literal translation “tempomaker” or “rabbit”)
What language and country?
German/Germany
The word “pacemaker” is also used in Germany, to be found in many google answers on “pacemaker tempo marathon”.
For example: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempomacher
The word “pacemaker” is also used in the Netherlands: https://synoniemen.net/index.php?zoekterm=gangmaker
We call them all of the above (not the german ones lol)
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Indeed, the terms “pacemaker” or “pacesetter” are both used. Moreover, as the other poster already mentioned, the colloquial term “rabbit” is common to American and British English as well as German.
It might be fun to expand this thread and ask what terms are used in various languages. I am not sure about what is used in Spanish or French, but I have often heard people simply use the English term “pacesetter.” Perhaps some other members could enlighten us.
Ciao
Swedish/Sweden: “FarthÃ¥llare”. Literally “speed keeper”. “Fart” = Speed, “hÃ¥llare” = keeper/holder. (“Fart” = speed makes one giggle a bit as a Swede when using English.)
“Hare” = rabbit. Also used but not as often (probably more common a decade or more ago). Relatively more often heard in elite track racing than in mass road races compared to “farthÃ¥llare”.
(“Fartlek” is a term originating from Sweden https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fartlek )
Largely depends on the Country, I Think. In Denmark it would translate to “hareâ€, which coincidentally is the same spelling, But pronounced differently
This is quite fun, and rather fascinating. I do think “pacemaker” sounds odd in the US because - at least for me - I associate it with the thing they put in people’s hearts. Do you British English speakers have that as a first association too?
If you took the potato out of your mouth…it would sound the same
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This is quite fun, and rather fascinating. I do think “pacemaker” sounds odd in the US because - at least for me - I associate it with the thing they put in people’s hearts. Do you British English speakers have that as a first association too?
Yes. I think you’ll just find with us that we will use a wide variety of word for loads of different things, its just the context of when or how its said that gives its meaning. A heart pacemaker does the same as running pacemaker essentially, so its interchangeable. There’s massive regional variation in words/slang and accents as you move around all the areas of the UK, in what would typically be used by each area, but we would still be aware/understand all of them.
Thanks for the information. It sounds like the terms mention thus far have great deal of overlap. I wonder what other terms (formal and informal) are out there, for instance, the Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic terms? While I would not anticipate the same degree of overlap, it might just be that competitive running is so ‘new’ (1896 Olympic games??) that many languages build upon the same basic idea/concept. However, it would be almost more interesting if they didn’t
Ciao
Since I am not a native British English speaker, I don’t want to speak to how or what they immediately associate with the term “pacemaker.” However, my British colleagues and friends do use the term in both the medical and running contexts.
TLT is correct to point out that context makes all the difference. Sometimes, especially when it comes to our native language/dialect, we don’t even recognize the use of the same word for two different things, e.g. bank (the financial institution) and bank in the sense of a river, snow, or sand. As a side note, the German term “bank” refers to the financial institution and a bench (that one sits on). Another example in English would be “right”: 1) a legal right, 2) the direction, and 3) in the sense of being correct.
And you are right, this is fun. I hope more people contribute!
Ciao