Deep dive into the history of the marathon and female fell running

Books by Bob Phillips, Steve Chilton, Mike Fleet and former AW man Jon Wigley are among those reviewed here

26 Miles 385 Yards – How Britain Made the Marathon and Other Tales of the Torrid Tarmac

Bob Phillips is one of the sport’s most prolific historians and writers – in addition to editing Track Stats, the quarterly newsletter of the National Union of Track Statisticians – he has written books about Emil Zatopek, the 1948 London Olympics and the history of the sub-four-minute mile and Commonwealth Games.

In this book Phillips starts with the first Olympic marathon of 1896 and he goes on to illustrate the growth of the event with some brilliant statistics showing how participation has ballooned and various time barriers have been broken.

There is a fascinating chapter on Dorando Pietri and Johnny Hayes and the Olympic marathon of 1908. There is also nice detail and background on the sport in the days before even AW was first published (1945). Here, Phillips mixes lots of original material with plenty of research from what sounds like an extraordinary personal athletics library.

Whereas men dominated these early years of the marathon, Phillips devotes some space to women running the distance, from the little-known Stamata Revithi to the pioneering world record-holder Dale Greig. There is also an interesting chapter on the background of Alan Turing, the marathon runner who is best known for his computer work in breaking the Nazi Enigma code during World War II.

By the time he gets into the era of athletes like Jim Peters, Phillips draws heavily on the pages of AW. The story comes to an end too soon as well. But, for any marathon fanatics, this is a must-read book.

26 miles 385 Yards is available for £9.99 Kindle or £14 paperback here

Voices from the Hills – pioneering women fell and mountain runners

The author, Steve Chiltern, specialises in writing about fell running as his previous books include It’s a Hill, Get Over It and the story of mountain runner Billy Bland. This latest book, Voices from the Hills, focuses on female fell runners and how they have increasingly made their mark over the years.

After a foreword by ultra and mountain runner Jasmin Paris, Chiltern chronicles the early days of fell running from the perspective of female athletes. He even precedes this with some useful background of women’s athletics in the days of ancient Greece and the modern Olympics and road marathons.

Chiltern traces the…