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Never before have so many people run so many miles, or set
themselves such ambitious targets, in pursuit of self-fulfillment:
marathons, ultra-marathons, extreme adventures. And never before
have people had such high hopes of remaining vigorous and active
– young in all but name – long after retiring from the
work-place. Yet that last goal, perhaps more precious than any of
the others, remains elusive. It can be done, but only a few
succeed. Most runners succumb to injury or illness in middle age;
others are defeated by dwindling energy levels, or by the gradual
falling-off of their peers. They can only envy the charmed few who
continue to enjoy the life-enhancing joys of running well into what
used to be considered extreme old age. Horrified by the thought of
breaking off his life-long love-affair with running, Richard
Askwith began to think seriously about a question with profound
implications for every enthusiastic runner: how can you keep
running, happily and well, for the rest of your life – ideally,
well into your nineties and beyond? Askwith’s quest for the
secrets of running longevity takes him on a long, mystifying
journey: to laboratories and running tracks, cities and remote
mountain villages, on several continents. He meets scientists and
coaches, gurus and cranks, ninety-year-old sprinters and
hundred-year-old marathon runners – and with each passing month
his quest grows more urgent.
A quest for the secrets of happy, healthy whole-life running, and
how runners can keep enjoying their sport, whatever their age What
do you do when the sport that has been your lifeline to physical
and mental well-being starts to slip away from you? Richard
Askwith, a life-long running enthusiast, was sunk in mid-life
despair. Plagued by injuries and demoralised by failing strength
and speed, he was on the point of giving up for good. Then he came
across the remarkable world of late-life athletics, and resolved to
find out more. The result is a thrilling, life-affirming quest for
the secrets of the happy few who keep on running all through life's
later decades, culminating in a life-changing adventure at the
World Masters Athletics Championships. It's a resounding message of
hope for any runner who has felt their joy in their sport being
undermined by age. Colourful, informative and inspiring, The Race
Against Time is a story of cold science and heart-warming
resilience; of champions and also-rans; of sprinting centenarians
and forty-something super-athletes barely touched by age. Its
heroes are experts and enthusiasts - scientists, coaches, runners -
from many countries, each with a different story to tell. What
unites them is a single belief: that you don't have to take growing
old lying down. This is a book for anyone who has ever felt the
healing power of running. It is both a very personal account of one
man's journey from despair to hope, and an exhilarating guide,
explaining how timely adjustments to lifestyle and training can
slow the progress of physiological decay, while sheer human spirit
can, if you are lucky, keep you running happily and healthily, all
the way into extreme old age.
British parliamentary democracy is in a state of advanced decay.
The symptoms are familiar: party machines with no goal beyond their
own survival; donors and lobbyists whose interests trump the
nation's; a disillusioned electorate; and an over-mighty executive
whose patronage has become the main driving force of politics.
These rots have mixed to breed a caste of career politician more
concerned with serving patrons than constituents. We've known this
for years, but what can we do about it we can do about it beyond
not bothering to vote? However, in the past decade, a new
generation's digital revolution has gradually given a voice to the
hitherto unheard masses. Its contribution to political discourse,
once limited to the occasional `X' on a ballot paper, has been
rude, vigorous, anarchic - and spectacularly influential. The tide
has turned. The result? A slump in support for the big parties, the
rejection of mainstream candidates in the Labour leadership
contest; the roar of pent-up rage against the Brussels-friendly
elite that led to the Brexit vote of June 2016; and then, five
months later, the seemingly crazed elevation of Donald Trump to
become the powerful man in the world. This is the story of how the
people have taken back the power.
Winner of 'Best New Writer' - British Sports Publishing Awards.
Winner of the 'Bill Rollinson Prize for Landscape and Tradition' -
Lakeland Book Awards Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book
of the Year Award and for the Boardman-Tasker Prize. An inspiring
insight into one of the oldest extreme sports, and a lyrical
tribute to Britain's mountains and the men and women who live among
them, this is the definitive story of fell-running. With an
introduction from bestselling author Robert Macfarlane, this is a
complete portrait of one of the few sports to have remained utterly
true to its roots - in which the point is not fame or fortune but
to run the ancient, wild landscape, and to be a hero, if at all,
within one's own valley. Richard Askwith's journey takes him into a
world of forbidding rockscapes, horizontal rain, fear, exhaustion
and stunning natural beauty, as well as his own attempt at one of
the purest and toughest challenges imaginable: the Bob Graham
Round, the sport's traditional test of 42 Lake District peaks in 24
hours. Along the way, he encounters some of the most prodigious -
and unsung - athletes Britain has produced, such as Joss Naylor,
who covered the equivalent of four Everests in a single run.
Gripping, funny and moving, this is a story that any aspiring
runner, endurance athlete or mountain-lover will understand well:
of extremity, heroism and the experience of a lifetime.
A moving memoir from a woman who made a fortune in a man's world
and then gave it all away...soon to be turned into a film In 1962,
Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley created a software company when the
concept of software barely existed. Freelance Programmers employed
women to work on complex projects such as Concorde's black box
recorder from the comfort of their own home. Shirley empowered a
generation of women in technology, giving them unheard of freedom
to choose their own hours and manage their own workloads. The
business thrived and Shirley gradually transferred ownership to her
staff, creating 70 millionaires in the process. Let It Go explores
Shirley's trail blazing career as an entrepreneur but it also
charts her incredible personal story - her dramatic arrival in
England as an unaccompanied Kindertransport refugee during World
War Two and the tragic loss of her only child who suffered severely
from Autism. Today, Dame Stephanie Shirley is one of Britain's
leading philanthropists, devoting most of her time, energy and
wealth to charities that are close to her heart. In Let It Go,
Shirley tells her inspirational story and explains why giving her
wealth away - letting it go - has brought her infinitely more
happiness and fulfilment than acquiring it in the first place.
Co-written with Richard Askwith, the former Executive Editor of The
Independent and the award-winning author of seven books in his own
name, including biographies of Emil Zatopek and Lata Brandisova.
'An extraordinary tale of creativity and resilience' - Guardian
'This engrossing story of an extraordinary life is filled with
lessons in what it means to be human' - Financial Times
LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR
The definitive biography of one of the greatest, most extraordinary
runners and Olympic heroes of all time, from the author of running
classic Feet in the Clouds. Emil Zatopek won five Olympic medals,
set 18 world records, and went undefeated over 10,000 metres for
six years. He redefined the boundaries of endurance, training in
Army boots, in snow, in sand, in darkness. But his toughness was
matched by a spirit of friendship and a joie de vivre that
transcended the darkest days of the Cold War. His triumphs put his
country on the map, yet when Soviet tanks moved in to crush
Czechoslovakia's new freedoms in 1968, Zatopek paid a heavy
personal price for his brave defence of 'socialism with a human
face'. Rehabilitated two decades later, he was a shadow of the man
he had been - and the world had all but forgotten him. Today We Die
A Little strips away the myths to tell the complex and deeply
moving story of the most inspiring Olympic hero of them all.
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Unbreakable (Paperback)
Richard Askwith
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Discover a story that defies belief: National Velvet meets Downton
Abbey with a splash of The Leopard. * LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM
HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR * Czechoslovakia, October 1937. Vast
crowds have gathered to watch the Grand Pardubice steeplechase,
Europe's most blood-curdling sporting test of manhood. With war
looming, the race has a brutal political significance. The Nazis
have sent the SS's all-conquering paramilitary horsemen to crush -
yet again - the 'subhuman Slavs'. But Lata Brandisova, a
silver-haired countess on a little golden mare, has other ideas...
'Heart-stopping reading' Clover Stroud, Daily Telegraph
"We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to enjoy
something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run
a marathon." --Emil Zatopek For a decade after the Second World
War, Emil Zatopek--"the Czech locomotive"--redefined the sport of
distance running, pushing back the frontiers of what was considered
possible. He won five Olympic medals, set eighteen world records,
and went undefeated in the 10,000-metre race for six years. His
dominance has never been equaled. In the darkest days of the Cold
War, he stood for a spirit of generous friendship that transcended
nationality and politics. Zatopek was an energetic supporter of the
Prague Spring in 1968, championing "socialism with a human face" in
Czechoslovakia. But for this he paid a high price. After the
uprising was crushed by Soviet tanks, the hardline Communists had
their revenge. Zatopek was expelled from the army, stripped of his
role in national sport, and condemned to years of hard and
degrading manual labor. Based on extensive research in the Czech
Republic, interviews with people across the world who knew him, and
unprecedented cooperation from his widow, fellow Olympian Dana
Zatopkova, journalist Richard Askwith's book breathes new life into
the man and the myth, uncovering a glorious age of athletics and an
epoch-defining time in world history.
Shortlisted for the 2015 Thwaites Wainwright prize for nature
writing Richard Askwith wanted more. Not convinced running had to
be all about pounding pavements, buying fancy kit and racking up
extreme challenges, he looked for ways to liberate himself. His
solution: running through muddy fields and up rocky fells, running
with his dog at dawn, running because he's being (voluntarily)
chased by a pack of bloodhounds, running to get hopelessly,
enjoyably lost, running fast for the sheer thrill of it. Running as
nature intended. Part diary of a year running through the
Northamptonshire countryside, part exploration of why we love to
run without limits, Running Free is an eloquent and inspiring
account of running in a forgotten, rural way, observing wildlife
and celebrating the joys of nature. An opponent of the
commercialisation of running, Askwith offers a welcome alternative,
with practical tips (learned the hard way) on how to both start and
keep running naturally - from thawing frozen toes to avoiding a
stampede when crossing a field of cows. Running Free is about
getting back to the basics of why we love to run.
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