Customer Reviews

Feet in the Clouds: A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession

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This is a great antidote to all the glamour and money in modern professional sport. A tale of hard men, in a neglected corner, who have done extraordinary things.

Askwith gives us a history of fell running in this interesting book. Anyone who runs, or more specifically, trail runs, will find a lot here to enjoy. The strength of this book really are the profiles of the fell runners themselves, a hardy lot who, although still with us, seem to speak to us from a bygone era. Kinda like I imagine my great-grandfathers would have been. From an American perspective, the historical minutia gets a bit tedious, however that's the only knock against this great read.

In the twenty or so years of running trails and ultramarathons, mostly in the U.S., I have waited for someone who could portray what goes on "out there" while running. Fell-running is arguably more challenging than our U.S. trails--the idea that we are almost always on trails is the giveaway.

Askwith gives us history of the legendary runs, names that become people with the biographical chapters, and, the icing on the cake--he takes us with him on several runs. I suffered his DNF just as I have suffered my own, his introspection echoed the many others I have heard. It sounds trite, but he transposes the reader from the comfort of the warm chair to the cold challenge of a waiting hillside.

Well done, very well done.