Customer Reviews

Run for the Diamonds: 100 Years of Footracing in Berwick, Pennsylvania

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is one of the finest on sport I have ever read! I lived in Berwick on Summerhill Ave.for 13 years and never missed the runners from my front porch. Mark Will-Webber's book captures the excitement of the race over 100 years. The research for this book is amazing as to runner's backround, photos,weather conditions and statistics all come together in this outstanding book on the history of footracing in Berwick, PA and around the world.I highly recommend this book to all sports enthusiasts!

Berwick's Run for the Diamonds is special for its tradition, its lung-busting hill ("the Hill"), its bucolic setting, and its atrocious weather. In many ways it's a metaphor for the hard-working, sometimes hard-scrabble, life of the hard coal region of north-central Pennsylvania.

Mark Will-Weber's history of the race is a must-have for anyone's who's ever run or been involved in the race. It is an informative and intriguing account of the race, its host city, and the many legendary runners who have participated in the race since it began in 1908.

It's not the most gripping read--sometimes it has almost a stat-book quality as Will-Weber methodically describes every race since 1908 and lists all the top finishers. What's missing is drama and back-story. How has the course--and Berwick--changed over the years? What's the story of those churches on Summer Hill? Who's "Kachinka" of Kachinka Hollow? Why, with a much smaller field, were there over 200 runners who ran under an hour in the early 80's compared to about 100 in recent years? Why not delve more deeply into back-stories of recent top runners? In short, why not more story and less stat-sheet narrative?