A typical Border Collie tops out around 24.8 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 33.98 mph. 2.1 mph faster than the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest Border Collies outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 6.2 mph.
Based on the best Fast CAT run of 3,505 Border Collies, a typical Border Collie tops out at 24.8 mph, and half of them run faster than 25.6 mph. That makes the Border Collie the 23rd fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 52 Border Collies have ever broken 30 mph, and 2,097 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Herding breeds, the typical Border Collie is faster than 7 of 8. The Belgian Malinois is the quickest of the bunch at 26.9 mph, and the Australian Shepherd (23.8 mph) runs closest to the Border Collie. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 2.0 mph gap to the Belgian Malinois is about 0.62 seconds.
Contact Point Booyah holds the fastest consistent run by any Border Collie: 33.98 mph at the Vallejo Dog Training Club in California on March 26, 2023. That's 100 yards in 6.02 seconds.
AKC's results also show Isle Breez Chasing Clouds at 38.96 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 22.07 mph. A jump that big is usually a timing or typing error, so we flag it rather than crown it.
On Dash-Hound, the fastest Border Collie is Festus, with a best of 30.95 mph over 35 logged runs.
Border Collies come in more than one Fast CAT height group. 2,933 measured over 18 inches and averaged 25.0 mph; 567 measured 12 to 18 inches and averaged 24.2 mph. Smaller dogs earn extra points per mph toward their titles, so the shorter ones rack up titles faster.
A little. The typical Border Collie ran 24.2 mph in 2017 (75 dogs) and 24.9 mph in 2025 (1,143 dogs). As more everyday pets join in, the average moves around.
Texas has the most Border Collie runs, 3,470 of them, followed by Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia. The fastest Border Collie run in Texas is 32.36 mph.
Any AKC-registered Border Collie over 12 months old can enter, and your dog runs alone down a straight 100 yards. Most dogs figure out the lure fast. Have someone your dog will run to waiting past the finish line, because a dog that stops to check on you can lose a second or two.
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Speeds from AKC Fast CAT results. Photographers: spotted your work? Tell us at [email protected] and we'll credit it or take it down.