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.

'From the birthplace of trail running, comes the tales of what it means to follow the path. The pure essence of trail running, infectious and captivating. Askwith will motivate you to climb a hill and scream down it, mud, stones and all!' -- SCOTT JUREK, international best selling author of Eat and Run

About the Author

Richard Askwith is a writer, journalist and former Associate Editor of the Independent. He is the author of the best-selling and award-winning titles Feet in the Clouds and Running Free.

Robert Macfarlane is one of Britain's leading writers on nature and landscape. The author of The Wild Places, Original Copy and Mountains of the Mind, he is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Reviews

'A minor masterpiece' - Frank Graham, The Sunday Times

'One of the best books about the extremes of sporting endeavour that you will ever read' - Independent on Sunday

'Imagine how strange it feels not only to have read a book about fell-running, but to have enjoyed it so much that I am now contemplating trying the sport myself...a lovely little book.' - Annalisa Barbieri, New Statesman

'A rousingly readable chronicle... The book wants for nothing in terms of rhythm and drama and tug.' - Christopher Bray, The Sunday Times

'Sports book of the season - a terrific story of fell-running and obsession.' - Blake Morrison, The Guardian

'[An] excellent book.' - James Eve, The Times

'One of the most effervescent books about anything - never mind fell-running - that I have ever read.' - Dave Jones, The Fellrunner

'A beautifully written, potted history of fell-running and famous fell-runners. Definitely worth a peep!' - Country Walking

Book Information
ISBN 9781781310564
Author Richard Askwith
Format Paperback
Page Count 352
Imprint Aurum
Publisher Quarto Publishing PLC