Deemed too small for his school Gaelic football team at the age of fourteen, Rob Heffernan took up race walking on a whim. Driven by a fiercely competitive nature and a dogged desire to be the best, he strode his way to the pinnacle of the sport, winning bronze in the London 2012 Olympics and becoming world champion in Moscow in 2013. In 2016, he became the first athlete to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games for a fifth time. In this no-holds-barred account, Rob describes his battles w...

Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.

'Elite athletes aren't born. They're made.'Michael JohnsonFrom a living icon of the Olympic Games – as both an athlete and now as a BBC broadcaster – Gold Rush is a compelling analysis of the fascinating combination of psychological and personal qualities, as well as internal and external factors, that go to create an Olympic champion.This exciting new book is based on Michael Johnson's own experiences as an iconic four-time Olympic champion, and on the knowledge he h...

'A captivating and detailed account ... it reads like a thriller, which is exactly the right tone to adopt by author Richard Moore for a story dripping with skulduggery and intrigue ... compelling' The Sunday ExpressThe 1988 Seoul Olympics played host to what has been described by some as the dirtiest race of all time, by others as the greatest. The final of the men's 100 metres at those Olympics is certainly the most infamous in the history of ath...

Autobiography of Usain BoltCovers his journey from playing cricket and soccer as a kid to becoming the fastest man aliveWell-illustratedYears before he set world records for the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, which made him the fastest man alive and famous, Usain Bolt was a fairly scrawny kid from Trelawny in Jamaica. In this autobiography, Bolt himself shares how, as he grew up and played cricket and soccer, he— and others—learned he could run fa...

The definitive, fully authorised story of the record-breaking rivalry between London Olympics organiser Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett.Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe presided over the golden era of British athletics. Between them they won three Olympic gold medals, two silvers, one bronze and broke a total of twelve middle-distance records. They were part of the landscape of the late seventies and early eighties -- both household names, their exploits were watched by...

Colin Jackson is one of the greatest athletes that Britain has ever produced. He was in the world top ten for 16 years, and was world number 1 for two of them. He set seven European and Commonwealth and nine UK records, and he still holds the world record for indoor hurdling.In 2003 Colin retired from athletics in front of an adoring home crowd. Then real life began. In Life’s New Hurdles Colin describes the shock of adjusting to sudden change. How would he manage without the stric...

Starting in the Gobi desert in winter, adventurer Rob Lilwall sets out on an extraordinary six-month journey, walking almost 5000 kilometres across China. Along the way he and his cameraman Leon brave the toxic insides of China's longest road tunnel, explore desolate stretches of the Great Wall and endure interrogation by the Chinese police.As they walk on through the heart of China, the exuberant hospitality of cave dwellers, coal miners and desert nomads keeps them going, despite...

Usain Bolt is the fastest human being in the history of the world. Most fans are aware of his multiple world records and his record-setting 100 and 200 meter gold medal defenses at the 2012 Olympics in London, but in order to truly understand Usain Bolt, you must first understand where he came from. "Usain Bolt: An Unauthorized Biography" explores Bolt's upbringing, his high school and youth sprinting careers, and details his breakthrough onto the world scene, all the way through h...

As part of the acclaimed Sports Virtues series, Eric Liddell: Humility discusses the struggles and triumphs of Eric Liddell's life. As with each story in the Sports Virtues series, this book assigns a virtue to a celebrated athlete or coach, and uses that person's story to help the reader achieve that virtue for him or herself.What emerges after reading these stories is not only a greater understanding and appreciation of the virtues that these icons needed to get through ...

Before Tiger Woods—and before Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan, and even Bobby Jones, there was the great Canadian George S. Lyon. This first account of Canada’s little-known golf legend, Olympic Lyon traces his incredible journey from small-town Ontario to the final match of the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. At age thirty-seven, the fire insurance salesman and natural athlete from Toronto picked up a golf club for the first time. Just a few years la...

Connemara and Mayo form an area known for stunning scenery and this guidebook describes some of the region's best and most spectacular walks. A wide variety of walks and terrains are covered: easy two-hour walks on surfaced paths; two- to three-hour flat island and coastal walks; two- to four-hour gentle hill and mountain hikes; and four- to seven-hour strenuous hill walks. Detailed instructions are provided along with information regarding archaeology, history, landscape, flora and wildlife...