WINNER OF THE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARD FOR NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR 'Lyrical and passionate ... a celebration of the human spirit and what it can achieve' Observer Two hours to cover twenty-six miles and 385 yards. An exceptional feat of speed, mental strength and endurance. The sub-two-hour marathon is running's Everest, a feat once seen as impossible for the human body. But now we have reached the mountaintop. In this spellbinding book Ed Caesar takes us into the world of the elite of the elite: the greatest marathoners on earth. Through the stories of these rich characters, and their troubled lives, he traces the history of the marathon as well as the science, physiology and psychology involved in running so fast, for so long. And he shows us why this most democratic of races retains its savage, enthralling appeal - why we are drawn to test ourselves to the limit. Now with a new afterword telling the inside story of how Eliud Kipchoge achieved the impossible, with exclusive access to Nike's #Breaking2 project, and the Ineos159 event at which the barrier was finally broken.

The definitive, fully authorised story of the record-breaking rivalry between London Olympics organiser Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe presided over the golden era of British athletics. Between them they won three Olympic gold medals, two silvers, one bronze and broke a total of twelve middle-distance records. They were part of the landscape of the late seventies and early eighties -- both household names, their exploits were watched by millions. As far apart as possible in terms of class and upbringing -- Ovett is the art student, the long-haired son of a market-trader from Brighton, a natural athlete; Coe's formative years were spent under the rigorous training routine of Peter Coe, a self-taught trainer who referred to his son as 'my athlete' -- their rivalry burned as intense on the track as away from it. The pendulum swung between the pair of them -- each breaking the other's records, and, memorably, triumphing in each other's events in Moscow in 1980 -- for the best part of a decade, until the final showdown at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 . . . The Perfect Distance is both a detailed re-creation and a fitting celebration of the greatest era of British athletics.