Tiptree Road Runners

‘PLIMSOLLS ON, EYEBALLS OUT: The Rise and Horrendous Fall of Marathon Legend Jim Peters’
By ROB HADGRAFT
Foreword by Dave Bedford

BACK in the 1950s, Jim Peters single-handedly turned marathon running into a high-speed race against the clock, smashing world records in a pair of Woolworth plimsolls!

A mild-mannered dispensing optician from suburban Essex, when Peters pulled on running kit he became a demon running machine. His motto was „kill or be killed‟ and his fierce training programme horrified friend and foe alike.

For decades, marathons had been the preserve of elderly plodders, who trained and raced slowly and steadily, believing it to be the only path to success. Jim Peters blasted such theories out of the water. Born in London‟s poverty-stricken East End, he overcame serious childhood
ill-health to make his name as a runner. His career was interrupted by the war and he came late to the marathon, having been humiliated into track retirement by the great Zatopek at the 1948 London Olympics.

Peters' comeback aged 32 involved a self-imposed training programme of unprecedented intensity. “I bashed it night after night” was his own description. His 1951 marathon debut caused a sensation and led to a series of glorious world records. Peters was no stylist, he lacked tactical nous, ignored conventional wisdom and ran 'ugly'. But guts and sheer bloody-mindedness saw him grind out victories, no matter how harsh the conditions.

Then, just as he was being described as indestructible, his world came crashing down. In a Vancouver heatwave, Peters paid dearly for his policy of running 'eyeballs out' every time. What happened at the 1954 Empire Games was so awful that “women wept and grown men lost their lunch”. Peters' rise had been astonishing, but his fall was truly horrendous. This is his story.

272 pages, illustrated, £14.99 ISBN 978-1-905328-96-3

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