i'd have to say that you have either a large amount of ping to that server you are on, or just extramely bad luck. when i was getting my mining up i stumbled on the path of a guy who had lvl 91 mining (and he was at top 18 f2p's i believe, but no names mentioned) and still managed to beat him to it, because of my faster connection. i suggest you to get to a server closest to you for the least ping possible.