In school I won gold twice in the 1500 meter race. Both times there were about 10 participants including myself with no training whatsoever. What I've learned is that the key to win is to look as confident as you can. Show no weakness or tiredness. For me it was about beating the opponents, not the race. Both times if I had run 10 meter more than the 1500 I actually ran, I would have died. But if you, from the stands, actually saw me running, you would think that I was an olympic champion who's done it a thousand times before.
The second time I ran, there was another guy adopting the same method as me. The only thing you can do then is to hope that he breaks first. When both of us were running alongside at the same pace, I even contemplated if he was actually good, if he had actually done it before, but even then I never broke my act. Thankfully for me, he must have contemplated the same thing because in the last round, he quit.