Well, you are right, he who runs fastest and crosses the white line first.
Such simplicity is, however not very meaningful in life or politics. For the reason that life is far more complex than running on a playground.
If you work hard, very hard, pass JEE get an IIT B.Tech, then MBA from IIMs and then high salary package. Of course you are winning the race and everyone is applauding and clapping for you.
Do you look upon life as a sprint race or a marathon? To win a marathon you need to be slow but steady and avoid getting prematurely exhausted or burnt out.
The other important consideration is that do you think that getting to the final line is all that matters in your life by any means or do you believe that your experiences of life along the way of your journey are equally or more important.
One approach is that your parents fixed your goal the day you are born and all you are supposed to do is to walk on a path that takes you to that pre fixed goal. Another approach would be you are never sure of and may be you do not bother about your final goal at all. This is like, as if you just start a journey without knowing your destination. Take the first bus available and when the bus stops you get down go to the station and take the train and without bothering start your train journey and so on. While undertaking this approach the only condition you have in mind is that the journey should be enjoyable and thrilling to you.
This leads us to the classic dilemma: who wins the race, the fast moving hare or slow but steady tortoise?
The answer is straight forward when winning means, winning a race on a play ground and the criteria for winning is clear cut, he who covers more distance in a given time. Provided one does not fall sleep on the way, the hare will win.
However, the answer to the question who wins a race in life, the one who is consistent, steady though slow or the one who is fast gets medal after medal in college and fast promotions in the jobs.
To answer this question what we need to define what is meant by WINNING IN LIFE and how many dimensions you wish to compare, cover and associate with winning.
In a one dimension winning may be looked upon as the one who gets higher salary package among those who are in race.
As we add more dimensions for example how well he takes care of his elderly parents or does he spent enough quality time with kids mentoring them, whether he participates in community activity etc.
No one can answer the question who is winning the race in an objective way.
In a multi dimensional space this is an optimization problem and everyone have different perceptions as to who is winning the race.
Which approach to life is better one is a subjective question?
Some win it on a short time scale others win it on a medium time scale an some on a large time scale, so with the result that depending upon what time scale the observer is using to judge your winning or not winning a race he gets different answer.
Life is not a race do not try to win it just learn to participate in it.