This book provides the first detailed history of one of the most powerful international sport organisations, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since 2019 known as World Athletics. The book critically assesses the internal power relations within the IAAF by focusing on the IAAF leadership. Based on extensive archival research, Power and Politics in World Athletics offers a nuanced analysis of the institutionalised strategies that developed as a reflection of the IAAF's interests and aims to create a broader understanding of the global sport system. With only six presidents in over a century of existence, the IAAF's leaders had profound impacts on other international institutions, national stakeholders and sporting participants. Through four sections, the book identifies various key turning points in the history of the governing body of athletics, and explores the IAAF's foundation, the policies of past IAAF presidents, and controversial issues such as doping, corruption and manipulation through a socio-historical lens. The book shows that while anyone could take part in athletics, policies enacted by each president served to ostracize those groups who did not fit into the IAAF's vision of an equal playing field. This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in sport history, sport sociology, the politics of sport, sport management, sport governance, or international organisations.

The Hash House Harriers - sometimes called the drinking club with a running problem. It is the largest non-competitive running club in the world. Hashing involves running from a pub, following a trail of flour around a circular course for five miles or so, and then returning to the pub for a beer or ten. This is four years in the life of 'Navigator' - a geographically-challenged hasher from the Isle of Wight. He travels with the Hash to wonderful places like Denmark, Germany, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Bradford, Howarth and Cardiff. He also visits Harwich; 'miss Harwich' - no, not a beauty contest - more a piece of lifestyle advice Hashing involves running, drinking, singing - and in some cases taking your clothes off, but not necessarily in that order. It is a fun activity that should not be taken seriously in any way. This is a light-hearted yet highly entertaining read, laced with the mischief and adventures that befall an 'adult' social club with a wickedly-juvenile approach to their shared hobby; running.. or was that drinking?

This collection of essays is the third iteration in a series of publications dealing with Olympic studies that initially developed out of the tripartite relationship between Western University (Canada), Victoria University, Melbourne (Australia), and the German Sport University Cologne (Germany). However, for this collection, papers were solicited from around the world in order to approach the topic from different and much wider perspectives. To this end, this book combines a diverse range of scholarly analyses that seek to understand how the recognition of the voices of athletes have developed over many decades. In essence, the sequence of chapters in this book are based around three perspectives, namely: the lives and biographical profiles of athletes; the decision-making processes of, and for, athletes; and the formal and informal institutional representation of athletes. While the touchstone is primarily the voices of athletes associated with Olympic-related sports, consideration is also given to the actions and opinions of athletes expressed in other sporting spheres. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

A text that is unique in encompassing the political, management/marketing and social impact aspects of running events. Combines theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence, thereby grounding concepts in real-world scenarios and synthesizing their meaning. Tracks event development trends and identifies theoretical, methodological and practical issues determining the future of events.

On the 50th anniversary of American Track and Field icon Steve Prefontaine’s tragic death comes an essential reappraisal of his life and legacy, a powerful work of narrative history exploring the forces and psychology that made Prefontaine great and separating the man from the myths.

In the fifty years since his tragic death in a car crash, Steve Prefontaine has towered over American distance running. One of the most recognizable and charismatic figures to ever run competitively in the United States, Prefontaine has endured as a source of inspiration and fascination—a talent who presaged the American running boom of the late 1970s and helped put Nike on the map as the brand’s first celebrity-athlete face.

Now on the anniversary of his untimely death, author Brendan O’Meara, host of the Creative Nonfiction podcast, offers a fresh, definitive retelling of Prefontaine’s life, revisiting one of the most enigmatic figures in American sports with a twenty-first-century lens. Through over a hundred and fifty original interviews with family, friends, teammates, and competitors, this long-overdue reappraisal of Prefontaine—the first such exhaustive treatment in almost thirty years—provides never-before-told stories about the unique talent, innovative mental strength, and personal struggles that shaped Prefontaine on and off the track. Bringing new depth to an athlete long eclipsed by his brash, aggressive running style and the heartbreak of his death at twenty-four, O’Meara finds the man inside the myth, scrutinizing a legacy that has shaped American sports culture for decades.

What emerges is a singular portrait of a distinctly American talent, a story written in the pines and firs of the Pacific Northwest back when running was more blue-collar love than corporate pursuit—the story of a runner whose short life casts a long, fast shadow.

The New England Small College Athletic Conference has won glowing appraisals in the sporting press since its founding in 1971. Established to strengthen intercollegiate sports in harmony with the high academic standards of its members-11 prestigious liberal arts colleges-the NESCAC is committed to equity and inclusion in athletic programs, and to providing only need-based financial aid. The Conference's reputation attracts many gifted student athletes. Drawing extensively on campus archives, media reports and interviews, this book compares the NESCAC's lofty strategy to reality, with a focus on recruiting, admissions, financial aid and diversity goals.

While the earliest evidence of organized running can be traced back to Egypt in 3800 BCE, the modern sport of track and field evolved from rural games and church and folk festivals, and rules were drawn up in the final quarter of the 19th century in those advanced societies where enough people had the leisure time to indulge their fancies. Today, in addition to the running events, track and field includes such events as the high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot, discus, javelin, hammer, and decathlon. The Historical Dictionary of Track and Field covers the history of this sport through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on key figures, places, competitions, and governing bodies within the sport. This book is an excellent access point for researchers, students, and anyone wanting to know more about the history of track and field.

Today's top athletes understand that meeting one's nutritional needs is critical when competing. Those who perform heavy physical activity must receive an increased level of nutrients, fluid and energy. This book offers a concise introduction to the links between nutrition and physical performance.

This original social science text approaches marathon running as an everyday practice and a designed event, to draw upon and contribute to the literature on practice theory, urban events, rhythmanalysis and mobility. It bridges sport studies and discussions within sociology and geography about practice, movement and the city. Inspired by theoretical debates about embodied and multi-sensuous mobilities, social and material practices, and urban rhythms, this book explores the characteristics of marathon running as a bodily practice on the one hand and, on the other, marathon training grounds and events as unique places. This account takes marathon running seriously, using sociological and geographical theory to understand the practice in and of itself. Based on original empirical research and accessible to readers, taking them to training sessions in Copenhagen and to marathons in Tokyo, Kyoto, Berlin, Frankfurt, Valencia and Copenhagen, it draws out the globalised, codified and generic nature of marathon practices and design, yet also brings out the significant local differences. The book examines in ethnographic detail how marathon practices and places are produced by various materialities, cultural scripts, experts, runners and spectators, and practiced in embodied, multi-sensuous and 'emplaced' ways by ordinary runners. It develops a sociological practice approach to marathon running and geographical understanding of marathon places and rhythms. It demonstrates that marathon running is of broad interest because it calls for and allows lively and expressive ways of conducting and writing research and understanding the becoming of bodies, the intertwining of biological and mechanical rhythms, and the eventful potential of streets. It will appeal to postgraduate students and scholars in sport studies, geography and sociology interested in running, active mobility and ethnography, as well as tourism and urban events. The book will also appeal to general readers with an interest in marathon running.

This original social science text approaches marathon running as an everyday practice and a designed event, to draw upon and contribute to the literature on practice theory, urban events, rhythmanalysis and mobility. It bridges sport studies and discussions within sociology and geography about practice, movement and the city. Inspired by theoretical debates about embodied and multi-sensuous mobilities, social and material practices, and urban rhythms, this book explores the characteristics of marathon running as a bodily practice on the one hand and, on the other, marathon training grounds and events as unique places. This account takes marathon running seriously, using sociological and geographical theory to understand the practice in and of itself. Based on original empirical research and accessible to readers, taking them to training sessions in Copenhagen and to marathons in Tokyo, Kyoto, Berlin, Frankfurt, Valencia and Copenhagen, it draws out the globalised, codified and generic nature of marathon practices and design, yet also brings out the significant local differences. The book examines in ethnographic detail how marathon practices and places are produced by various materialities, cultural scripts, experts, runners and spectators, and practiced in embodied, multi-sensuous and 'emplaced' ways by ordinary runners. It develops a sociological practice approach to marathon running and geographical understanding of marathon places and rhythms. It demonstrates that marathon running is of broad interest because it calls for and allows lively and expressive ways of conducting and writing research and understanding the becoming of bodies, the intertwining of biological and mechanical rhythms, and the eventful potential of streets. It will appeal to postgraduate students and scholars in sport studies, geography and sociology interested in running, active mobility and ethnography, as well as tourism and urban events. The book will also appeal to general readers with an interest in marathon running.

Trail Running Bend and Central Oregon is an extensive guide to the best trail running in one of the country's top outdoor destinations. Author and trail runner Lucas Alberg provides detailed descriptions of the area's best loop runs, including several new trails added within recent years. From classic high desert runs to the east in the Badlands, to mountain escapes and high alpine scenery to the west in the Cascades, the guide highlights the unique and diverse geography that Central Oregon has to offer. Unlike other guidebooks, Trail Running Bend and Central Oregon is organized by season, so runners can know when to hit the right trails at the right times throughout the year. The 50 routes described in the book are all located within 65 miles of Bend, which means that trail runners will spend more time doing what they love to do, instead of spending time behind the windshield in anticipation.

Eric Liddell, the Scottish 400m Olympic champion from the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was immortalized in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. His refusal to race on a Sunday is now legendary. His story, however, goes far beyond the restrictions of a 2-hour movie. This vivid biography recounts the highs and lows of Liddell's athletics career, and uncovers his life after the Olympics as a missionary, and internment camp prisoner, in war-torn China. Drawing upon interviews with Liddell's surviving family and friends, Julian Wilson brings Eric to life through fascinating anecdotes, reminiscences, extracts from his letters and rare photographs. Discover the secret behind Eric Liddell's enduring legacy - the complete surrender of his life to God.

This book provides the first detailed history of one of the most powerful international sport organisations, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since 2019 known as World Athletics. The book critically assesses the internal power relations within the IAAF by focusing on the IAAF leadership. Based on extensive archival research, Power and Politics in World Athletics offers a nuanced analysis of the institutionalised strategies that developed as a reflection of the IAAF's interests and aims to create a broader understanding of the global sport system. With only six presidents in over a century of existence, the IAAF's leaders had profound impacts on other international institutions, national stakeholders and sporting participants. Through four sections, the book identifies various key turning points in the history of the governing body of athletics, and explores the IAAF's foundation, the policies of past IAAF presidents, and controversial issues such as doping, corruption and manipulation through a socio-historical lens. The book shows that while anyone could take part in athletics, policies enacted by each president served to ostracize those groups who did not fit into the IAAF's vision of an equal playing field. This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in sport history, sport sociology, the politics of sport, sport management, sport governance, or international organisations.

This book is a foundational resource for all coaches and student coaches who are, or who plan to be, working with Masters athletes. This athletic cohort typically includes adults over the age of 35 years who are registered for sport programs/events, and who invest in training to improve themselves for competitions that range from recreational to championship caliber. As the boom in Masters sport continues worldwide, coaches are increasingly tasked with the development and support of adults' quality sport experiences, and the implementation of strategies to foster skill acquisition and to facilitate their pursuit of competitive goals. This book presents what is different about coaching Masters athletes and prompts coaches to expand their scope of practice beyond traditional knowledge associated with youth or younger adult cohorts. It is essential for coaches to understand the psychological and social considerations that are unique to coaching adult sports-persons and Masters athletes, and that can be adapted to adults whose training and preparation for competition is quite varied. Coaching Masters Athletes: Advancing Research and Practice in Adult Sport explores the research and practice specific to planning to coach Masters athletes and divulges what is known about distinctive considerations for delivering coaching interventions to this cohort, expanding on coaches' abilities to influence adults' personal development, as well as their own coach education through Masters Sport. Readers and students of Coaching, Physical Activity, Health Psychology, Sport Leadership and Exercises Science will gain valuable applied perspectives grounded in best practice research on how to coach one of the fastest-growing sporting cohorts, to promote quality adult sport, and to keep adult sports-persons engaged and active as they age.

In 2019, Nick Butter became the first person to run a marathon in every country on Earth. This is Nick's story of his world record-breaking adventure and the extraordinary people who joined him along the way.

On January 6th 2018, Nick Butter tied his laces and stepped out on to an icy pavement in Toronto, where he began to take the first steps of an epic journey that would see him run 196 marathons in every one of the world's 196 countries. Spending almost two years on the road and relying on the kindness of strangers to keep him moving, Nick's odyssey allowed him to travel slowly, on foot, immersing himself in the diverse cultures and customs of his host nations.

Running through capital cities and deserts, around islands and through spectacular landscapes, Nick dodges bullets in Guinea-Bissau, crosses battlefields in Syria, survives a wild dog attack in Tunisia and runs around an erupting volcano in Guatemala. Along the way, he is often joined by local supporters and fellow runners, curious children and bemused passers-by. Telling their stories alongside his own, Nick captures the unique spirit of each place he visits and forges a new relationship with the world around him.

Running the World captures Nick's journey as he sets three world records and covers over five thousand miles. As he recounts his adventures, he shares his unique perspective on our glorious planet, celebrates the diversity of human experience, and reflects on the overwhelming power of running.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are valuable institutions that provide intellectual domains for racial uplift, racial refuge, and cultural empowerment within a continually polarized nation. Today's current racial climate reminds us of the historical context that gave birth to HBCUs and segregated athletic experiences. While the sporting life at HBCUs is an integral part of these institutions' mission, there is a dearth of research about HBCU athletics. In The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Past, Present, and Persistence, leading scholars from across the nation present a holistic examination of the integral role sports have played at HBCUs. Chapters in this volume cover a range of topics, from HBCU Football Classics to economics. It begins with a historical overview of HBCUs and the early sporting life before delving into the experiences of today's male and female student-athletes-including the unique perspectives of athletes who transferred from historically White colleges and universities to HBCUs. Other chapters examine economic issues at HBCUs, such as the financial viability of their athletic departments in the context of the larger NCAA economic framework, and recommendations for the future of HBCU athletics to restore both academic and athletic excellence at these institutions. An important addition to the existing literature on race in contemporary society, this volume provides a narrative of the Black experience from the historical origins of educating Blacks, their early athletic experiences, and the current state of athletics at HBCUs. The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities is a significant contribution to the debate on college athletics and higher education, in general, and athletics at HBCUs, specifically. It is a must-read for sport studies scholars and students, sport management practitioners, and sport enthusiasts of the inter-workings of athletics and the HBCU experience.

Endurance runners and coaches have tended to neglect weight training and conditioning techniques, often in the belief that they don't benefit performance, add unwanted muscle bulk, or cause excessive soreness. But as standards at elite level have improved, so coaches and runners have become increasingly keen on learning about the latest new training techniques or ways to stay injury free. No longer does the running community view strength and conditioning with scepticism, or as something that can only benefit elite runners. In Strength and Conditioning for Endurance Running, author Richard Blagrove shows how a strength and conditioning programme can directly improve running performance and reduce the risk of injury, as well as allowing an athlete to tolerate high volumes of running in the future.

For those willing to go to the edge, for those who love to run close to the sky, here are some of the world's most challenging and beautiful running trails and races. Twelve trails are covered in depth, and many more are included. From Norway to South Africa, Hong Kong to Colorado, and Switzerland to Columbia, these profiles are accompanied by travel information, as well as stories from those with experience on these trails, whether talking about the music they run to, or the good will shared among fellow runners.

Development of the Youth Athlete offers a single-authored, well-illustrated, evidence-based, and integrated analysis of the development and trainability of the morphological and physiological characteristics which influence sport performance in youth. The book critically analyses the development of the youth athlete in the context of current and future sport performance and long-term health and well-being. Development of the Youth Athlete identifies the principal controversies in youth sport and addresses them through sport-specific examples. Presenting a rigorous assessment and interpretation of scientific data with an emphasis on underlying physiological mechanisms, the book focuses on the interactions between growth, maturation, and: Sport-related fitness Sport-specific trainability Sport performance Challenges in youth sport Providing the only up-to-date, coherent critical discourse on youth athlete development currently available, Development of the Youth Athlete is essential reading for students, lecturers, sport medicine practitioners, researchers, scholars, and senior coaches with an interest in youth sport, exercise science, and sport medicine.

5 September, 1972. 4.30 a.m. The Munich Olympic Village. Black September, a group of Palestinian terrorists, break into the Israeli team's apartments. It is the beginning of the most tragic event in Olympic history and, after twenty hours, the day will end in a massacre, with the deaths of eleven Israelis, five Palestinians and a German policeman. This is the story of the race-walker Shaul Ladany: a survivor. But more than just a member of the Israeli team from those terrible events in Munich, Ladany was a survivor of the darkest period in twentieth century history, having been interred as a child at the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen, the camp where Anne Frank died. For the second time in his life, Ladany has survived history. Ladany, the world record holder in the fifty-mile walk and a professor of industrial engineering, is one of Israel's most successful athletes, having won dozens of national championships and competed at both the 1968 and 1972 Olympics; he was a student at Columbia University in New York, a soldier in the Six Days War and the Yom Kippur War. From Eichmann to Sharon, from Bikila to All Blacks, from Nixon to Thatcher: they are all a part of Ladany's walk through the twentieth century. Award-winning author and journalist Andrea Schiavon tells Ladany's extraordinary life and, walking with him, chronicles a whole century of events in this astonishing, touching and epic biography.

The revised edition of the bestselling "ChiRunning," a groundbreaking program from ultra-marathoner and nationally-known coach Danny Dreyer, that teaches you how to run faster and farther with less effort, and to prevent and heal injuries for runners of any age or fitness level.
In "ChiRunning, " Danny and Katherine Dreyer, well-known walking and running coaches, provide powerful insight that transforms running from a high-injury sport to a body-friendly, injury-free fitness phenomenon. ChiRunning employs the deep power reserves in the core muscles, an approach found in disciplines such as yoga, Pilates, and T'ai Chi.
"ChiRunning "enables you to develop a personalized exercise program by blending running with the powerful mind-body principles of T'ai Chi:
1. Get aligned. Develop great posture and reduce your potential for injury while running, and make knee pain and shin splints a thing of the past.
2. Engage your core. Shift the workload from your leg muscles to your core muscles, for efficiency and speed.
3. Add relaxation to your running. Learn to focus your mind and relax your body to increase speed and distance.
4. Make it a Mindful Practice. Maintain high performance and make running a mindful, enjoyable life-long practice.
5. It's easy to learn. Transform your running with the ten-step "ChiRunning "training program.

Running is a fundamental human activity and holds an important place in popular culture. In recent decades it has exploded in popularity as a leisure pursuit, with marathons and endurance challenges exerting a strong fascination. Endurance Running is the first collection of original qualitative research to examine distance running through a socio-cultural lens, with a general objective of understanding the concept and meaning of endurance historically and in contemporary times. Adopting diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to explore topics such as historical conceptualizations of endurance, lived experiences of endurance running, and the meaning of endurance in individual lives, the book reveals how the biological, historical, psychological, and sociological converge to form contextually specific ideas about endurance running and runners. Endurance Running is an essential book for anybody researching across the entire spectrum of endurance sports and fascinating reading for anybody working in the sociology of sport or the body, cultural studies or behavioural science.

The first book in the popular 'You know you are' series

'You Know You Are A Runner' takes a humorous look at the obsessive nature of runners based on submissions from runners and their families.

It is the first book in the 'You Know You Are' series with 40 illustrated captions that will resonate with runners of all ages and abilities.

Other titles include: You Know You Are A Nurse...You Know You Are An Engineer...You Know You Are A Dog Lover...You Know You Are A Golfer...You Know You Are Getting Older...You Know You Are A Teacher...You Know You Are A Mother...

Purchase either the Kindle or paperback editions of this book and go in the draw to win a 'You know you are a Runner' t-shirt. Visit our website for further details.