The author of this book made his debut as an athleticshistorian in 1948 aged 26. When in close co-operationwith his friend Donald H. Potts he edited A Handbook onOlympic Games Track and Field Athletics', a statisticalwork which among other things offered the first-everWorld List of the 100 best track and field performancesof all time ......
While the earliest evidence of organized running can be traced back to Egypt in 3800 BCE, the modern sport of track and field evolved from rural games and church and folk festivals, and rules were drawn up in the final quarter of the 19th century in those advanced societies where enough people had the leisure time to indulge their fancies. Today, in addition to the running events, track and field includes such events as the high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot, discus, javelin, hammer, and decathlon. The Historical Dictionary of Track and Field covers the history of this sport through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on key figures, places, competitions, and governing bodies within the sport. This book is an excellent access point for researchers, students, and anyone wanting to know more about the history of track and field.
Mark McNamara's near-30-year toil has produced a book of more than 400 pages that is an amazing and well-researched story of more than a century and a half of horse-racing history in Warrnambool that also is a history of the region's people and their sporting passion. The magnificent Grand Annual Steeplechase takes centre stage at Warrnambool's annual three-day May carnival, and it is covered extensively in Melbourne barrister McNamara's much wider labour of love. As the proud Warrnambool man and highly respected former chief steward, Des Gleeson, says in his foreword: "The carnival's Grand Annual Steeplechase is the ultimate test of horse and rider, run over an exhausting 5500 metres with 33 obstacles, more than any other steeplechase in the world. It is a spectacle unmatched, conducted through open paddocks and up and down hills, horses running clockwise and anti-clockwise at different stages." The book covers the Annual and the other iconic carnival races, the Warrnambool Cup, the Wangoom Handicap, the Brierly Steeplechase and the Galleywood Hurdle. Warrnambool-born McNamara tells of the exploits of the great horses, including Galleywood, for whom the hurdle was named, and delves into the fight to save jumps racing, an "endangered species" in racing in recent years. It details the exploits of trainers such big winners Kevin Lafferty and Darren Weir, the great jockeys such as Tom Corrigan and Ted Byrne, and the jockey- trainer combinations such as Pat Hyland and Jim Moloney. Horse owners Tozer, Manifold and more provide key moments, right from the mid-1800s when many rode their own horses in races as amateurs and also were involved-as or with administrators-in the establishment of clubs and Warrnambool's racecourses.
The work for this book began with a course I created and taught called Animal Behavior. I always knew that there was a strong magnetic bond between people and animals, but it wasn't until I began working on my curriculum that I truly found out how strong this bond really was. Millions of people, young and old, will visit zoos and aquariums each year. People stand in front of the animals, hypnotized by the every movement of the animal. People seemed to be looking not just at the animal, but almost as if they were looking inside these animals, wondering and questioning about the lives of some of our most distant animal relatives. In my classroom, I found the exact same kinds of responses. The discussions and questions of my students motivated me to share with you the lives and abilities of some of the most amazing living creatures in the world. People realize that humans are also animals, but the belief that we have superior intelligence and problem solving abilities makes us think we are far superior to all of the rest of our Animal World. As I began to learn more and lead my student discussions, I soon realized that maybe our intelligence was the only thing that we really did have in our superiority over the rest of our animal relatives. I began to look into the idea of comparing humans to animals in a wide variety of behaviors and activities, and soon a brand new window into the REAL world of animals began to open up. I soon realized that even the most "insignificant" animals in our world were really superstars when compared to humans. By using math, we are able to truly get a comparison of animals and how they relate to our own human abilities. As I began to create the problems and "do-the-math," it became very evident, that I began to get the responses that I had hoped for. I soon began to call these responses, the "Wow factor." A number of times, the teachers that have worked on the problems would actually go back and do the problems a second time because "there has to be a mistake" or "no way that this can be true." There were no mistakes and the math did not lie. The math allowed us to look at the animals in a totally different way. I hope that you too will be amazed and "wowed" by some of these amazing animals that we share our world with.
The moving story of a tough little horse, a gifted boy, and a woman ahead of her time. The youngest jockey, the smallest horse, and an unconventional heiress who disliked publicizing herself. Together, near Liverpool, England, they made a leap of faith on a spring day in 1938: overriding the jockey's father, trusting the boy and the horse that the British nicknamed the "American pony" to handle a race course that newspapers called "Suicide Lane." There, Battleship might become the first American racer to win England's monumental, century-old Grand National steeplechase. His rider, Great Britain's Bruce Hobbs, was only 17 years old. Hobbs started life with an advantage: his father, Reginald, was a superb professional horseman. But Reg Hobbs also made extreme demands, putting Bruce in situations that horrified the boy's mother and sometimes terrified the child. Bruce had to decide just how brave he could stand to be. On the other side of the Atlantic, the enigmatic Marion duPont grew up at the estate now known as James Madison's Montpelier—the refuge of America's "Father of the Constitution." Rejecting her chance to be a debutante, denied a corporate role because of her gender, Marion chose a pursuit where horses spoke for her. Taking on the world's toughest race, she would leave her film star husband, Randolph Scott, a continent away and be pulled beyond her own control. With its reach from Lindbergh's transatlantic flight to Cary Grant's Hollywood, Battleship is an epic tale of testing your true worth.
Horseracing, thoroughbred breeding and gambling on racing are global industries worth several hundred billion dollars. They are also industries facing serious challenges, from the rise of alternative forms of leisure gambling to concerns about the ethical treatment of animals in all equestrian sports. This book offers a broad-ranging examination of the contemporary horseracing industry, from geographical, economic, social, ethical and environmental perspectives. The book draws on in-depth, mixed-method research into the racing and breeding industries in the US, Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand, and includes comparative material on other key racing centres, such as Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong. It explores the economic structure of the global racing business, including comparisons with other major international sport businesses and other equestrian sports. It examines the social and cultural roots of the sport through its association with, and impact on, rural places, communities and environments from Kentucky to Newmarket – highlighting racing’s particular blend of tradition and scientific and technological innovation. The book also explores the ethical issues at the heart of horseracing, from reproduction to the use of the whip, and the inescapable tension between the horse as an instrumentally valuable commodity and the horse as an intrinsically valuable animal with needs and interests. The Global Horseracing Industryconcludes by considering alternative futures for this major international sports business. The book is illuminating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, business, cultural geography, animal studies, or environmental studies.
