The phrase "against runners" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts discussing opposition or competition involving runners, such as in sports or events.
Example: "The new regulations were implemented to ensure fair play against runners who may use performance-enhancing drugs."
Alternatives: "in opposition to runners" or "versus runners".
Robert Taylor watched proudly as members of his girls team, the Bronx-based Zodiac club, held their own against runners from around the world.
As a teenager he was lapped in a school 10,000m race against runners his age and from 2003 to 2005 he quit athletics for two years.
… For days, online forums sparked with outrage against politicians and race organizers, a tone that turned to vitriol against runners, even from some other runners who accused them of being selfish.
And it is anyone's guess how the form might work out when horses trained and conditioned under one set of rules come up against runners from a different regime.
If Optimizer makes it to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, he may be competing against runners trained by at least three former Lukas assistants: Mike Maker with last year's 2-year-old champion, Hansen; Todd Pletcher with the Wood Memorial winner Gemologist; and Kiaran McLaughlin with Alpha, who was second in the Wood.
He led for the first 4 km against runners who were better at this distance, progressively slowed over the next 3 km, stopped to walk briefly at 7 km, and then finished running, but in a much worse time than expected.
The island side won all four of their matches against runners-up the Netherlands, Denmark, Guernsey and Italy in ICC Europe Division Two.
As group winners, Barcelona would avoid being drawn with other group winners, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus and Bayern Munich, but they could still be drawn against runners-up such as Chelsea, Internazionale and Arsenal.
He shot seven-under-par 135 and won the championship flight by two strokes against runner-up Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach.
He prevailed against runner-up Keen Ice by 2 1⁄4 lengths, a margin that could have been far greater if jockey Victor Espinoza had not taken his foot off the accelerator and eased him under the wire.
With the victory, the CIF Southern Section Division III fourth ranked Spartans (12-7, 5-0) swept the season series, 2-0, against runner-up No. 7 South Pasadena (12-9, 3-2) as both teams have three games remaining in the league season.
