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Showdown At Shepherd's Bush
David Davis
Thomas Dunne Books
June 2012
On Sale: June 19, 2012
320 pages
ISBN: 0312641001
EAN: 9780312641009
Kindle: B006ZL9EEQ
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Sports
"The epic clash of an Irish-American, Italian, and
Onondaga-Canadian that jump-started the first marathon
mania and heralded the modern age in sports The eyes of the world watched as three runners--dirt poor
Johnny Hayes, who used to run barefoot through the streets
of New York City; candymaker Dorando Pietri; and the famed
Tom Longboat--converged for an epic battle at the 1908
London Olympics. The incredible finish was contested the
world over when Pietri, who initially ran the wrong way
upon entering the stadium at Shepherd's Bush, finished
first but was disqualified for receiving aid from
officials after collapsing just shy of the finish line,
thus giving the title to runner-up Hayes. In the midst of
anti-American sentiment, Queen Alexandra awarded a special
cup to Pietri, who became an international celebrity and
inspired one of Irving Berlin's first songs. David Davis
recalls a time when runners braved injurious roads with
slips of leather for shoes and when marathon mania became
a worldwide obsession. Standing next to Cait Murphy's
Crazy '08 as an invaluable look at a bygone sporting era,
this dramatic narrative is aimed at the recordsetting
number of marathon participants in the United States (more
than 500,000 in 2010!) and timed nicely for the return of
the Olympics to London in 2012"--
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