The Ghost Runner

by Bill Jones

Overview

The incredible, inspiring, and heartbreaking story of a phenomenal long-distance runner’s race against insurmountable odds and his own demons.  

The mystery man threw off his disguise and started to run. Furious stewards gave chase. The crowd roared. A legend was born. Soon the world would know him as "The Ghost Runner," John Tarrant, the extraordinary man whom nobody could stop. As a hapless teenage boxer in the 1950s, he'd been paid 17 pounds in expenses. When he turned to distance running, he found himself banned for life. His amateur status had been compromised. Forever.

Now he was fighting back, gate-crashing races all over Britain. No number on his shirt. No friends in high places. Soon he would be a record-breaker, one of the greatest long-distance runners the world had ever seen. This is his story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639360987
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	11/15/2021
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Bill Jones worked for Granada Television for twenty-seven years, where he was an award-winning documentary maker. He was researching a documentary about the centenary of the Manchester running club, Salford Harriers, in 1985 when he first came across the story of John Tarrant (a former Harriers member) and it has haunted him ever since. This is his first book.

Table of Contents

Introduction 13

Prologue 23

Chapter 1 This Is What I Am 25

Chapter 2 'An Honest Endeavour' 55

Chapter 3 'Torrance of Buxton' 81

Chapter 4 The Ghost Runner 113

Chapter 5 'Dear Tarrant' 147

Chapter 6 'The Ageing Maestro' 181

Chapter 7 Return of the Ghost 217

Chapter 8 A Man Apart 247

Chapter 9 The Only White Man 287

Chapter 10 The Greatest Race 321

Afterword 349

Appendix: John Tarrant's Career Highlights 351

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating study of one man’s obsession and the heartless,hypocritical bureaucracy that aligned itself against him. Unforgettable reading.

STARRED REVIEW Booklist

Why I picked it up: I love the idea of anyone so driven to do what he loves that he ignores officials’ efforts to keep him away.

Why I finished it: Even his training partners, men who spent countless hours with him, considered him difficult to like, stubborn and selfish, yet, each man admired his determination and drive. Tarrant suffered from debilitating stomach problems which often caused him to vomit or have diarrhea many times a race. (Despite this, he won several!) Once, to get his stomach ready for an ultra-distance race, he prepared his stomach by eating a half pound of cheese and drinking a half cup of lukewarm tea. He then ran forty miles with no other sustenance, winning easily. While training to break the world record for a 100-mile race, he logged over 5,000 training miles in a single year.  A clear motivator for Tarrant was his childhood.  He spent the majority of WWII and a few years afterward in a government home with his little brother. It was an important moment in his development, and the boys’ self-reliance may have been responsible for his ferocious concentration and determination.

Unshelved

A terrific story—a comic strip hero made flesh.

The Daily Mail

"A terrific story—a comic strip hero made flesh."

Daily Mail

Jones has unearthed and told quite brilliantly the tragic story of a man condemned not only by authority but also by his own stubbornness.

The Sunday Times (London)

An astonishing story of staggering grit and determination.

The Independent

"Jones has unearthed and told quite brilliantly the tragic story of a man condemned not only by authority but also by his own stubbornness."

Sunday Times (London)

A fascinating study of one man’s obsession and the heartless,hypocritical bureaucracy that aligned itself against him. Unforgettable reading.

Starred Review - Booklist

The lonely fight of a long-distance runner. A brief, failed career in boxing earned John Tarrant (1932–1975) £17. In the middle of the 20th century, that paltry sum meant that he was no longer an amateur in the minds of the world's sporting hierarchy. Documentary filmmaker Jones uncovers Tarrant's star-crossed fight against those authorities in his quest to pursue competitive long-distance running, his true love. Tarrant was obsessive. He doggedly and even admirably fought capricious and seemingly vindictive British amateur sporting officialdom in his quest to have his amateurism restored--something they fully had the capacity to do. In many ways, Tarrant is a sympathetic figure. His lifelong struggle to run legally--his willingness to run unsanctioned in official races earned him fame and respect from fans and competitors alike and garnered him the nickname "The Ghost Runner"--was sandwiched around a childhood spent in a Dickensian children's home and an early and tragic death from cancer. But his obsession also made him a lousy employee and a selfish husband and father. Except for a few occasions when he gets in his own way, Jones tells the story well, albeit in a British idiom that may occasionally ring odd to American readers. His book serves not only to uncover Tarrant's largely forgotten story, but also to remind readers that the amateur model of sport was oftentimes a hypocritical morass that victimized poor and working-class athletes while protecting a privileged class of sportsmen. John Tarrant fought against a sporting establishment that held him hostage in what could have been one of the great international ultra-distance-running careers. Jones restores his legend while revealing his very human frailties.

Kirkus Reviews