Download or read book Comrades Marathon The Ultimate Human Race written by John Cameron-Dow and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2012-09-27 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race. It is a festival celebrating the triumph of human spirit over adversity. It has a camaraderie that enables ordinary mortals to overcome human fragility and perform beyond their wildest expectations. In the words of Comrades marvel Bruce Fordyce, this race 'can inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things, and it brings out the best in all of us. This race has a power to transform, to inspire and to motivate unlike any other'. The official Comrades Marathon: The Ultimate Human Race begins in 1921 and chronologically describes every race in detail, up to 2010's commemorative 85th event. All the legends are here, in their full Comrades glory and human frailty: Arthur Newton, Hardy Ballington, Wally Hayward, Jackie Mekler, Alan Robb, Frith van der Merwe, Bruce Fordyce, and others. But there is also deeply affectionate and admiring coverage of the backmarkers, the ones often called 'the real Comrades runners' - those 'ordinary people' behind the front-runners. This meticulously researched account will certainly inspire all types of athletes, but more than that, it will evoke a sense of wonder at what body and mind can achieve in pursuit of extreme challenge. The heartbreaking and heart-stopping moments are documented alongside the countless successes and triumphs, as well as a rich collection of humourous and quirky anecdotes from Comrades lore. An updated history of the Comrades Marathon is long overdue, and author John Cameron-Dow is uniquely qualified to write about this remarkable athletic event: he holds a prized green number - mark of a ten-time Comrades medallist.
Download or read book Winged Messenger written by Bruce Fordyce and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-07 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year is 1976, and South Africa is gripped by a terrible lockdown - apartheid. Nelson Mandela is in prison on Robben Island; South Africa is isolated from the rest of the world, and revolution is in the air.Against this background, a young student at Johannesburg's Wits University decides to try and take control of his life, and his destiny, and give himself a sense of purpose. He challenges himself to run South Africa's most famous long-distance race, the grueling 90-kilometre Comrades Marathon.Little does he know that five years later he will win this most iconic of races and he will go on to be considered one of the greatest Comrades runners in the history of the race.In Winged Messenger, Bruce shares this 1976/77 training diary so that raw novices and experienced runners alike can follow the journey he took to his first Comrades. Novices particularly will enjoy reading about how he took his first stumbling, rudimentary steps and how, as an ordinary runner, he began to understand the demands of the race. He documents his mistakes, his successes and his progress towards his date with destiny in May 1977. Using his own experiences, he guides others, but particularly novices, on their quests to become winged messengers. This is a unique blend of both a training guide and a fascinating glimpse of the life of a young man in his quest to conquer both himself and South Africa's greatest race.
Download or read book Runaway Comrade written by Bob de la Motte and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2014-10-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is the world's oldest and most famous ultra-marathon. South Africa's Comrades Marathon has teased, tormented and tortured runners from all over the world since 1921. Those who have endured it says it changes lives, speaks to the soul and turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. According to many it is liberating. Bob de la Motte should know. Winner of five Comrades medals, including three golds, his grit and determination during several epic duels with nine-time winner Bruce Fordyce enthralled the world throughout what was arguably the marathon's defining passage in the politically charged 1980s. In this extraordinary, compassionate, candid, humorous and captivating personal memoir, Bob explains his fascination and passion for the most famous ultra-marathon in the world and recounts the truth behind the hyped-up rivalry. He explores allegations of cheating and blood doping, highlights the hypocrisy in South African and international sport and elaborates on his decision to join the Chicken Run to Australia at the height of apartheid in 1987. He also provides fascinating perspectives on international politics, South Africa's contemporary politics and gives a crystal ball insight into the future of the Comrades Marathon. For runners, sportspeople, sports lovers and those who simply enjoy a damned good read, "Runaway Comrade" will inevitably be your best buy of the year!
Download or read book Dare to run written by Amit Sheth and published by Sanjay & Co. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dare to run is the inspiring story of Amit and Neepa Sheth, a husband-wife duo who took up running as a sport in their late 30s. In a collection of essays written over five years, Amit, a self acclaimed couch potato takes us long with him on an incredible journey of determination, discovery, courage, self-awareness and self-belief. He takes us with him from his first, almost fatal, 200 meter jog on a beach in Mumbai, to the finish line of The Ultimate Human Race: the 89 km Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa. Along the way, Amit uses a combination of poetry, philosophy and scriptures to explain his unique perspective on life, religion, spirituality and running. This is a book not just about running but about the need to relentlessly follow your dreams and passions, no matter what they may be. It is a book which encourages you to be the best you can be in all walks of life while at the same time maintaining a certain sense of balance and appreciation for the beauty of existence. It encourages you to enjoy the gift of life to its fullest. The essays describe the journey of an ordinary husband-wife team doing extraordinary feasts, while having to balance family, work, training and injuries. This is a book from which a novice runner will draw inspiration and motivation and it also a book in which an elite athlete will recognize his own strengths and weaknesses. It describes how ordinary people push the limits of their ability to achieve their goals, passions and dreams and it will inspire the reader to do the same. It is a book to be read not only by those who run but those who desire to run. It is a book which dares you to run.
Download or read book Lonely Planet s Best in Travel 2018 written by Planrt Lonely and published by Lonley Planet. This book was released on 2017-10-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This annual bestseller ranks the hottest, must-visit countries, regions and cities for 2018. Drawing on the knowledge and passion of Lonely Planet's staff, authors and online community, it presents a year's worth of inspiration to take travellers out of the ordinary and into the unforgettable - and firmly sets the travel agenda for the year ahead.
Download or read book The Comrades Marathon written by Justin Gallagher and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guns and Needles written by Clinton van der Berg and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2022-02-01 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Africa revels in its reputation as a sport-loving country. Yet just beneath the surface lurks a dark underbelly that reeks of cheating and illicit shenanigans, where shady characters and willing athletes are prepared to do whatever it takes to come out on top. South African sport is awash with steroids, a habit that formed in the late 1980s and continues unabated today, with participants and champions alike opting to play dirty. Guns and Needles infiltrates an extraordinary environment that includes the story of the youngest athlete, who happens to be a South African, to ever test positive. With doping numbers far higher than the international average, prominent sportswriter Clinton van der Berg probes why this is so. Many of the stories have never been told, including that of the death of a young rugby aspirant and the bodybuilder who talks candidly of his thirty-year odyssey with steroids. Guns and Needles also unmasks the rampant level of steroid use in schoolboy rugby and the prominent busts at senior and Springbok level, while examining the murky steroid underworld and related deaths, as well as the doping culture in boxing, athletics and other sports. This is a gripping read filled with drama, tragedy and scarcely believable stories.
Download or read book Comrades written by Bruce Fordyce and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Rise of the Ultra Runners written by Adharanand Finn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An electrifying look inside the wild world of extreme distance running. Once the reserve of only the most hardcore enthusiasts, ultra running is now a thriving global industry, with hundreds of thousands of competitors each year. But is the rise of this most brutal and challenging sport—with races that extend into hundreds of miles, often in extreme environments—an antidote to modern life, or a symptom of a modern illness? In The Rise of the Ultra Runners, award-winning author Adharanand Finn travels to the heart of the sport to investigate the reasons behind its rise and discover what it takes to join the ranks of these ultra athletes. Through encounters with the extreme and colorful characters of the ultramarathon world, and his own experiences of running ultras everywhere from the deserts of Oman to the Rocky Mountains, Finn offers a fascinating account of people testing the boundaries of human endeavor.
Download or read book Duel in the Sun written by John Brant and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2007-03-06 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1982 Boston Marathon was great theater: Two American runners, Alberto Salazar, a celebrated champion, and Dick Beardsley, a gutsy underdog, going at each other for just under 2 hours and 9 minutes. Neither man broke. The race merely came to a thrilling, shattering end, exacting such an enormous toll that neither man ever ran as well again. Beardsley, the most innocent of men, descended into felony drug addiction, and Salazar, the toughest of men, fell prey to depression. Exquisitely written and rich with human drama, John Brant's Duel in the Sun brilliantly captures the mythic character of the most thrilling American marathon ever run—and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterward.
Download or read book The Comrades Marathon written by John Cameron-Dow and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Waterlogged written by Timothy Noakes and published by Human Kinetics. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Drink as much as you can, even before you feel thirsty." That's been the mantra to athletes and coaches for the past three decades, and bottled water and sports drinks have flourished into billion-dollar industries in the same short time. The problem is that an overhydrated athlete is at a performance disadvantage and at risk of exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH)--a potentially fatal condition. Dr. Tim Noakes takes you inside the science of athlete hydration for a fascinating look at the human body’s need for water and how it uses the liquids it ingests. He also chronicles the shaky research that reported findings contrary to results in nearly all of Noakes’ extensive and since-confirmed studies. In Waterlogged, Noakes sets the record straight, exposing the myths surrounding dehydration and presenting up-to-date hydration guidelines for endurance sport and prolonged training activities. Enough with oversold sports drinks and obsessing over water consumption before, during, and after every workout, he says. Time for the facts—and the prevention of any more needless fatalities.
Download or read book The Hundred Year Marathon written by Michael Pillsbury and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the U.S. government's leading China experts reveals the hidden strategy fueling that country's rise – and how Americans have been seduced into helping China overtake us as the world's leading superpower. For more than forty years, the United States has played an indispensable role helping the Chinese government build a booming economy, develop its scientific and military capabilities, and take its place on the world stage, in the belief that China's rise will bring us cooperation, diplomacy, and free trade. But what if the "China Dream" is to replace us, just as America replaced the British Empire, without firing a shot? Based on interviews with Chinese defectors and newly declassified, previously undisclosed national security documents, The Hundred-Year Marathon reveals China's secret strategy to supplant the United States as the world's dominant power, and to do so by 2049, the one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. Michael Pillsbury, a fluent Mandarin speaker who has served in senior national security positions in the U.S. government since the days of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, draws on his decades of contact with the "hawks" in China's military and intelligence agencies and translates their documents, speeches, and books to show how the teachings of traditional Chinese statecraft underpin their actions. He offers an inside look at how the Chinese really view America and its leaders – as barbarians who will be the architects of their own demise. Pillsbury also explains how the U.S. government has helped – sometimes unwittingly and sometimes deliberately – to make this "China Dream" come true, and he calls for the United States to implement a new, more competitive strategy toward China as it really is, and not as we might wish it to be. The Hundred-Year Marathon is a wake-up call as we face the greatest national security challenge of the twenty-first century.
Download or read book The Comrades Marathon Story written by Morris Alexander and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book In the Long Run written by George Stratford and published by George Stratford. This book was released on 2006-07-24 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the backdrop of one of the world's most demanding races, four men must fight their personal battles for survival. THE RACE: South Africa's awesome Comrades Marathon - fifty-five miles of physical torture run over a series of massive hills in stamina destroying heat and humidity. THE MEN: an idealistic British marathon runner duped into assisting with a murderous plan; a world famous American entertainer who unknowingly puts far more than just his career on the line; a Zulu youth with outstanding natural athletic ability but an unknown enemy; and the dissolute son of a wealthy Johannesburg stockbroker competing in a desperate attempt to preserve his inheritance. Some of these will learn harsh lessons. Some will pay a far heavier price. None will ever forget.
Download or read book My Life on the Run written by Bart Yasso and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2009-05-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With My Life on the Run, Bart Yasso--an icon of one of the most enduringly popular recreational sports in the United States--offers a touching and humorous memoir about the rewards and challenges of running. Recounting his adventures in locales like Antarctica, Africa, and Chitwan National Park in Nepal (where he was chased by an angry rhino), Yasso recommends the best marathons on foreign terrain and tells runners what they need to know to navigate the logistics of running in an unfamiliar country. He also offers practical guidance for beginning, intermediate, and advanced runners, such as 5-K, half marathon, and marathon training schedules, as well as advice on how to become a runner for life, ever-ready to draw joy from the sport and embrace the adventure that each race may offer
Download or read book My Best Race written by Chris Cooper and published by Diversion Publishing Corp.. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty runners—from the world’s elite to passionate amateurs—share the races they’ll never forget in this “fascinating and fresh look at competitive running” (Jon Sinclair, former USA cross country and 10K champion, RRCA Hall of Famer). Every runner that enters a race has a unique motivation behind competing: racing for the challenge, for the achievement, for the health benefits, or for more personal reasons. But whether they are twenty-mile-a-day elite marathoners or twenty-mile-a-week recreational runners, each of them can invariably point to a singular performance as “the best race I ever ran.” My Best Race is a collection of those singular performances. In this inspirational collection, fifty runners, from Olympians and world champions, to courageous disabled athletes and middle-of-the-packers, share their personal accounts of what they consider the best race they ever ran—and why. Contributors include a top marathoner who sacrifices his place on the Olympic team to pace his friend to the final qualifying spot at the Olympic Trials; “The Central Park Jogger” who finishes a race she founded to benefit disabled athletes, fourteen years after being left for dead from a brutal attack that gripped the nation; an unheralded high school runner who beats a previously undefeated state champion—and who goes on to become a two-time Olympian; the woman race organizers tried to physically remove from the male-only Boston Marathon in 1967; and forty-six other runners. “Such wonderful and inspiring stories by a diverse group of runners—bravo!” —Ryan Lamppa, media director of Running USA “What a fascinating concept! . . . A very unique and inspiring collection that gives great insight into the minds of runners.” —Keith Brantly, member of the 1996 US Olympic marathon team
