The Longest Race  (English, Paperback, Alter Tom)

Editorial Review

The Longest Race is a tale, a fable of skill, passion, rage, love, and finally, peace.



Bahadur, a young boy, is the son of a humble watchman in the small town of Rajpur at the foothills of the Himalayas. Fame and fortune seem a far cry from the life he is destined to lead, until he wins a race in school and discovers in himself a passion for long-distance running. Morning after morning, he gets up at dawn to run – barefoot – in the hills.

Finally, he is selected to compete in the state championships. Watching him win is Greg Abberley, the legendary Scottish coach who has trained some of England’s greatest distance runners. He is in India on a special mission to find young talent. And the boy he chooses to take back with him to Edinburgh is Bahadur.

In Abberley, Bahadur finds a coach who is a visionary, a guru who lets him follow the rhythm of his body and spirit. Bahadur is on his way to becoming a long-distance phenomenon, winning a major marathon in England. The Olympics beckon … but when the young man reaches the peak of his powers, he is plunged into the strange world of Indian sport, and the bureaucracy, politics and jealousies in which it is mired leaves him scarred and disillusioned. He abandons running until, years later, a moment of crisis forces him to return to it, showing him how the human spirit can triumph even when the odds are stacked against it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tom Alter was born in Mussoorie, India, in 1950, where he studied at Woodstock School. His parents were American Presbyterian missionaries. He left India to study at Yale University, returning to the country of his birth to join the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, from where he graduated, with a gold medal, in 1974. He has since acted in over 250 Hindi films and 50 TV serials, as well as in several stage productions. He writes and records commentaries, comperes and hosts live shows, was a sports journalist, and has written two books – "The Best in the World– India’s Ten Best World Cup Matches", which he co-authored with Ayaz Memon, and "Rerun at Rialto", a novel. His passions are sports, reading and sleeping.