Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the point of being a professional runner, when motorbikes exist? People can get enjoyment from doing (and watching) people doing things, even if machines can do it better.
Status-seeking is the reason folks focus on professional running, or professional chess, or any of these very hardcore, very difficult endeavors that have no practical purpose. Someone once commented that men make extraordinary efforts to impress women, yet in general have very little understanding of what women actually like. This explains jacked-up trucks, professional chess, professional running, etc EDIT: I'm tal…
I feel like for most competitive activities like this, who you really want to impress is other people who do that same activity. (I play competitive scrabble, for which there is approximately zero recognition in the "outside world", but having your fellow scrabble players recognise your ability counts for a lot.)