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Tom McNab: Flanagan's Run (abridged)

Read by Rupert Degas

At the height of the Depression, in 1931, entrepreneur Charles Flanagan organises the Trans-America race, in which 2,000 runners from across the globe compete for a $150,000 top prize. But the...

Tom McNab: Flanagan's Run (abridged)

Read by Rupert Degas

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At the height of the Depression, in 1931, entrepreneur Charles Flanagan organises the Trans-America race, in which 2,000 runners from across the globe compete for a $150,000 top prize. But the...

About

During the Depression the ebullient American entrepreneur Charles Flanagan assembles 2,000 runners from all corners of the earth, to run from Los Angeles to New York for prize-money of $150,000. Flanagan’s Trans-America runners face 3,000 miles, across the Mojave desert and the frozen Rockies, running a daily average of 50 miles for three months. The American sports establishment, however, is desperate to crush what it sees as a professional challenge to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Every day is therefore a struggle for survival, for Flanagan himself as well as the runners. Flanagan’s Run is an epic tale, and a testimony to the strength of the human spirit.

Contents and tracklist

Hugh McPhail dropped his trousers, stuffed them into his knapsack…
Track length6:29
At two-thirty precisely Charles C. Flanagan…
Track length7:42
Hugh McPhail had first heard about…
Track length9:59
Doc stood up and propped himself…
Track length9:33
'Ladies and Gentlemen!'
Track length5:53
Doc had anticipated…
Track length7:49
7:30 a.m., 24 March 1931.
Track length5:08
Doc swore under his breath.
Track length5:12
Doc had left the Americans at ten miles…
Track length6:06
3:45 p.m., 24 March 1931.
Track length7:12
In the lead, Muller, Martinez…
Track length4:11
'Coffee?' asked Dixie.
Track length6:18
7 a.m., 27 March 1931.
Track length6:33
As the Trans-America ended its first week…
Track length4:51
Las Vegas, 27 March 1931.
Track length9:21
'Goddamit!' shouted Flanagan…
Track length4:48
The Trans-Americans entered McPhee…
Track length8:34
McPhee opened his sporran and withdrew…
Track length5:03
Doc talked to the team for five minutes…
Track length4:54
The gun cracked, and one thousand…
Track length7:44
The Trans-Americans had been the first men…
Track length5:11
Muller and Stock, after a fruitless appeal…
Track length4:18
It was at Gypsum that they began to run…
Track length6:04
Ahead, Stock and Muller had already dropped…
Track length6:28
Doc Cole's rescue of Claus Muller…
Track length3:32
The Roosevelt Suite, the Green Davison Hotel…
Track length5:02
He took another swig from his glass…
Track length5:16
Had it been possible for a room to sweat…
Track length6:07
The rhythmic tapping of Dixie's typewriter…
Track length5:01
When they reached the tent…
Track length4:48
1 May 1931: It was getting better.
Track length6:32
'Reckon you can catch Stock?' asked Hugh…
Track length6:17
'Let me fill your glass, sir,' said Levy.
Track length7:16
At a nudge from Hugh, Morgan put up his hand.
Track length7:09
Morgan sat on his stool and looked…
Track length5:19
'You sure you're able to continue?' he asked.
Track length5:00
18 May 1931. The Columbia Hotel…
Track length5:52
AMERICANA DATELINE 22 MAY 1931
Track length6:20
Doc and his group knew that at least one man…
Track length5:33
Doc Cole and Ernest Bullard approached…
Track length5:24
Kate Sheridan had read somewhere…
Track length6:34
9 a.m., 3 June, the Grand Metropolitan Hotel…
Track length5:16
Edgar J. Hoover's flat, square face crinkled…
Track length3:38
8 p.m., Friday 19 June 1931.
Track length6:39
2:15 p.m., Saturday 20 June 1931.
Track length4:54
At the front, Eskola's pace was still remorseless…
Track length6:08
… Each man felt it, felt his body protest…
Track length3:11

Awards and reviews

At the height of the Depression, in 1931, entrepreneur Charles Flanagan organises the Trans-America race, in which 2,000 runners from across the globe compete for a $150,000 top prize. But the sports establishment tries to scupper what they see as a threat to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. No less impressive than the fictional runners’ gruelling three-month journey (50 miles a day through desert and mountains) is the pathos of the individuals’ experiences which McNab creates – and Degas’s treasure trove of accents bring to life.

Today’s audiobooks are ideal for Easter fun-runners and long-distance harriers alike. Tom McNab lived and breathed athletics as competitor, coach and sports writer for 40 years before writing his marathon of a novel, Flanagan’s Run, which was an instant bestseller on its publication in 1982...Read by the versatile and compelling Rupert Degas.
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