Customer Reviews

Why Die? The extraordinary Percy Cerutty, maker of champions.

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To know Percy Cerutty was to be castigated, scorned and sometimes to question your very existence. Cerutty's goading of athletes would hardly have survived this litigious age. Yet as a runner at his Portsea International Athletics Centre in the sixties, I was drawn to the sheer force of his personality, his originality in research and running, his discourses and attitudes in philosophy, the extraordinary way he almost floated over the ground as he ran, and his lectures at "the circus", the small sandy circle where he held his audience in awe. Cerutty had a simple test of "manliness" and propensity to succeed - if you could survive Portsea and his outbursts, then you could survive most things. Many didn't, but others went on to become world champions in running, cycling, and other sports, and I was privileged to meet some of them. Cerutty coined the term "stotans" deriving it from the greek ancients of "Stoics" and "Spartans."

Graem Sims has researched Percy Cerutty's life very thoroughly and written a long overdue book; a task I had once contemplated myself. In keeping with current storytelling fashions, he starts at the end (of Percy's life), but then traces his entire history. Cerutty really lived two lives; one up to the age of 44 when his health had been devastated by smoking, physical inactivity and early pneumonia and poor diet, and he was given less than two years to live, and the second beginning with his recognition of his need to survive, and embracement of new rules for living, eating and working. To this he added his prolific background of reading in all subjects from theology to science, and his extra-ordinary capacity to experiment and research movement and fitness from first principles. Graem's book provided fascinating insights into aspects of Percy's life that I had not known. While he includes numerous stories of Cerutty's famed biting comments and cantankerous nature, he does not dwell on them in a sensationalist way; rather he explores the whole rich canvas of Cerutty's life and its directions. Many of Cerutty's antics, for example, were deliberate attempts at publicity to attract people and an income to his athletics centre; the sheer diversity of his ambitions and his complex character however often become self-destructive. There are character and biographical sketches of many people who were connected or disconnected with Cerutty, at a time when Australian middle distance runners held world stage, and reproductions of numerous photos including the earliest shacks at Portsea, many from a cache of suitcases unopened for a quarter-century. Cerutty was a model of independent and unbiased research - Graem's biography includes the development of Cerutty's ideas on movement from studying the motion of horses for hours; methodologies which had more in common with the great scientists of the renaissance than the deductive processes in modern laboratories.

This book is not just for Cerutty aficionados and athletes; as a personality, philosopher and scientist, he makes a fascinating subject for anyone interested in the subject of what makes us tick, physically, mentally and emotionally. Much of what he said and did half a century ago is highly relevant to the current era of cloning, bio-ethics and the passion for computerised simulations which take the place of real life. Graem has provided a well-balanced biography of a man who had us eating raw foods and oatmeal decades before the term muesli was heard in Australia, moving heavy weights twenty years before gyms and fitness regimes were embraced by more than dedicated athletes, and a holistic approach to life and ethics that preceded the rise of eastern philosophies into western thinking. A book that I couldn't put down, and highly recommended

This fascinating biography of the legendary Australian track coach Percy Cerutty, based on his cache of personal writings and interviews with his inner circle, portrays a visionary thinker whose fusion of philosophical, biomechanical, naturalistic, nutritional and motivational theories into a "Stotan" approach to athletics and living remains as compelling today as it was during the peak of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.

While Cerutty's coaching relationships with milers John Landy and Herb Elliot have been examined in a number of other works, this book sheds new light on the turbulent childhood, adolescent and early adult years that forged his volatile temperament and laid the groundwork for his theories. What emerges is a picture of complex man with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and curiosity for his environment, which led to a number of groundbreaking theories that won admiration from many. To its credit, the book's even-handed dissection of Cerutty's character gives equal shrift to his manic-depressive tendencies, self-destructive behavior, and the inflammatory outbursts that soured many friendships and spawned a large contingent of detractors. Graem Sims also captures the tension between Cerutty's strong drive to profit from his theories and his refusal to affiliate himself with individuals or projects that offended his Stotan principles.

The book probably won't silence those who view Cerutty as a charlatan who just happened to become associated with talented young men bound for athletic glory with or without his assistance. But it reinforces my conviction that this enigmatic fellow, who ran sand dunes, moved heavy weights and ran six-minute miles well into his sixties, was one of the most important thinkers in the history of athletics. His emphasis on doing things the natural way and disdain for modern trappings and conveniences are particularly meaningful in light of the doping scandals currently rocking the sports world.

-Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"

Inspiring story about one of the greatest coaches and interesting men i have ever read about. The thing about Percy is that he lived what he preached, from the death bed in his mid 40's to running marathons 2 years latter, and then on to coach some of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen in John Landy and Herb Elliot. With his spartan methods that clashed with the rise of modern training, one cant help but think that much of what Percy believed could be mixed with modern traing to create a better athlete. A story that i often think about while i have been running the last few weeks is one of Percy, he had been running with a group of runners including Elliot, the other had finished well before an old Cerrutty and when Cerrutty crossed the line he collapsed in a great deal of pain, the other runners fearing for cerrutty crowded around him, while on the ground in pain Percy then looked up and said, "you boys may be able to run faster, but you will never be able to run as hard", that symbolizes much of what Cerutty is about, violent exercise to strain the organism so it will rebuild stronger. The book isn't perfect though, the first few chapters dont paint much of a picture of Percy's childhood. Sims also deals with Percy's darker side and his obsession with being the centre of attention. Overall and inspiring book, much better written than this jumbled review but i hope it is helpful.

Those who have met him would realize that something has been ignited within them. Regardless of whether those people agree or disagree with him. Their latent wildness is awakened and their fighting instinct is switched on. They become independent as a human being who decides their own path and who does not rely on others.

He would have achieved many successes if only he had played things better. But in the face of success, success almost always ran away. He was indeed the doomed type. It could be said it was inevitable. A person should not be controlled by another. Cerutty expressed this ideal both intentionally and unintentionally.

Irrespective of the class or the position of the people he was with, he continued to be himself. He lived his life on his own initiative and responsibility without belonging to any group.
He followed his inner voice right through to the end, no matter what others said. He was just Cerutty to the very end.

Cerutty - a man who pursued the truth, who chose solitude and finely honed his sensibility. He kept on expressing through his body what the joy of living and freedom are. His powerful message still appeals to us even now, 30 years after his death.

I have read 4 or 5 earlier books about Cerruty or by Cerruty and this one which was written after his death and contains for the first time a lot of Cerruty's notes and letters. His wife had kept this material and cooperated with the author. It is a very comprehensive study of Cerruty and his coaching and a vivid picture of the great but very controversial figure in the history of running.

Percy Cerutty was certainly an energetic and entertaining character who took his own near death experiences into an extraordinary fitness life style transferring into a fitness coach, a highly competent masters runner and a successful yet erratic coach. He strikes me as being as Australian version of the late great Yankee coach Casey Stengel who although a competent coach, was also a great entertainer and showman made famous for his wise cracks. Cerutty was as famous for some of as his antics and his often conflicting abrasive style as well as his unique coaching that encompassed capturing an animalistic form of competitive spirit, efficiency of running form and off track running. Sims captures Cerutty with his unique lifestyle set up by his long-term illnesses that almost killed him until he underwent a dietary change and exercise. Once a promising miler, Sims describes Cerutty as an unusually successful over 40s runner who competently ran marathons into his early 50s and remained a physical specimen all his life. The exciting part of the book is Cerutty's coaching of the Australian greats Landy, Macmillan and Les Perry. Of course, the career high point is his protégée Herb Elliot going undefeated in the mile/1500 through the fantastic 1960 Olympic dominating 1500 victory. The fascinating part of the book is Cerutty's personality that could be overly forthright and abrasive such as explaining to Roger Bannister why his form was inefficient and then conducting a demonstration. His low point is bad mouthing Landy after Landy ran one of the fastest miles in the world with a break through run, assuming that Landy was soaking up the glory on his own to reporters, causing a severance that never completely healed. Another unusual moment was accepting a so called expert's theory on the importance of warming up in double sweats that was tried right before an Olympic final probably costing Macmillan a medal. The training is not quite as detailed as one would like but Sims captures the overall program that consisted of weight workouts, dune running to endure beyond the lactate threshold, off track training allowing more physical freedom and living the life of a "stotan". His training compound on the Portsea was Spartan like in its unique seaside location but appears to have been a great get away from standardized training or intervals three times a week that was a 1950's rage promoted by a coaching rival. Often rejected by the Australian Olympic committee, Cerutty was a unique and hard character that emerged with Elliott as his great success. Quite a unique story and person captured well by Sims along with some great detail on the Olympics of that period. As a distance runner, Cerutty makes you appreciate the opportunity to get to a park and enjoy an off road run.

Cerutty was definitely an extraordinary character, but "maker of champions" or any other such label is very generous. Specifically, his antics drove Landy away, which led to Landy actually developing his own training and Cerutty then taking the credit for making the world's fastest man. In other words, he was kinda sleazy.