When Running Made History
A front-row seat to runnings most inspiring and historic moments, with New Zealand in a major role. Nick Willis MNZM, two-time Olympic medallist, New Zealand record-holder 1500 m Rogers account of the global rise of womens running is the best Ive ever seen. Im honoured that my win in the New York Marathon and Lorraine Mollers in the Avon Marathon are central to his story. Allison Roe MBE, winner and record-breaker, Boston and New York City Marathons Roger Robinson is uniquely placed to write this riveting memoir. Throughout the running revolution hes been a world-class runner, commentator, broadcaster and writer. It is an insiders view of running intimate, persuasive and informative. Lloyd Jones, Hon DLitt, award-winning New Zealand novelist, Man Booker Prize finalist About The Book: Roger Robinson has been witness to many great moments in the history of running, and to those when running made history in ways beyond sport. As an excited child at the post-war London Olympics, an ardent spectator following the drama of Peter Snell and Murray Halberg at Rome, stadium announcer at the transformative Christchurch Commonwealth Games, TV commentator when Ben Johnson got busted, and more recently as a journalist reporting live on the Boston Marathon bombings, Robinson was there. In a unique cross-over of literature, history and autobiography, Robinson tells of running in Berlin at the moment of German reunification and in New Yorks Central Park the day the Twin Towers fell; he is on the TV microphone for Kenyas first major running victory; and has to find words to help a stadium crowd mourn for the lives lost in the Christchurch earthquake. When Running Made History is a superb depiction of the modern running movement. It provides a compelling, close-up account of the American running boom, the defiant emergence of womens running, the glorious dawn of Africas ascendance, the sports redefinition of ageing, and its important role in environmental conservation. Robinson lets us run alongside as history is made by Emil Zátopek, Abebe Bikila, Ron Clarke, Dick Tayler, Allison Roe, Paula Radcliffe, Nick Willis, Meb Keflezighi and 85-year-old superstar Ed Whitlock. Robinson brings to life the days when running shaped the world, and shows why so many millions love to run and why running is worth loving. About the Author: Roger Robinson, now Emeritus Professor, is remembered as an outstanding teacher of English at Canterbury and Victoria universities, and by a wider public as stadium announcer at the Christchurch and Auckland Commonwealth Games, and an acclaimed commentator for TVNZ. His books include Katherine Mansfield: In From the Margin, the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature and Heroes and Sparrows: A Celebration of Running. Praise for the US edition of When Running Made History (Syracuse University Press, 2018): Among the countless books on athletics and running that I have reviewed over the past 60 years, this seminal book is one of the very best. Readers will be enthralled by this eloquent, knowledgeable, humorous, poignant work by a wonderfully descriptive writer. Mel Watman, Athletics International, UK
Price:
NZ$ 39.99
paperback
328
150 x 230 mm
22-02-2019
28-02-2019
9781988503080
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