Duel in the SunDuel in the Sun
Neither man broke, and neither, in any meaningful sense, lost. The race merely came to a thrilling, shattering end, leaving both runners, in separate and ultimately pyrrhic ways, the winner. Since Beardsley was just 26 and Salazar 23, everyone assumed that this would be the start of a long and glorious rivalry, one that would galvanize the public and seal American dominance in the sport through the 1984 Olympics and beyond. But rather than a beginning, Boston '82 represented a climax - it exacted such an enormous toil that neither man ever ran as well again. If the glory of their marathon bore a heroic quality, so did their suffering and deliverance afterward: Beardsley, the most innocent of men, fell into felony drug addiction; and Salazar, the toughest of men, fell prey to depression. Powerful, unconscious forces brought these two great athletes together at the Boston Marathon and drove their lives in the years that followed.
Duel in the Sun captures the delicate balance between hope and desperation that characterized Dick Beardsley, Alberto Salazar, and America's greatest marathon.
John Brant re-creates the tense drama of the 1982 Boston Marathon--and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterwards
"One was a humble farm boy from Minnesota. The other was the most electrifying distance runner of his time. In 1982, they battled stride for stride for more than two hours in the most thrilling Boston Maraton ever run. Then the drama really began. . . ." Thus John Brant sets the stage for the epic race that took place 23 years ago between Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley. Since Beardsley was only 26 and Salazar 23 at the time, everyone assumed that this would be the start of a long and glorious rivalry.
Instead Beardsley soon began a descent into drug addiction that brought him perilously close to dying. Salazar's decline was more gradual, his vigor slowly giving way to baffling symptoms that left him completely exhausted. Brant's portraits of the painkiller-addicted Beardsley and the depression-plagued Salazar are at once sensitive and hair-raising. The supporting characters are also richly drawn, from Alberto's father, Jose Salazar, a towering presence with a fascinating history and a former close friend of Fidel Castro, to Bill Squires, Beardsley's coach, a Casey Stengel-like figure whose oddball goofiness masks an encyclopedic knowledge of distance running. This elegantly written story is riveting nonfiction at its very best.
John Brant re-creates the tense drama of the 1982 Boston Marathon—and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterwards
"One was a humble farm boy from Minnesota. The other was the most electrifying distance runner of his time. In 1982, they battled stride for stride for more than two hours in the most thrilling Boston Maraton ever run. Then the drama really began. . . ." Thus John Brant sets the stage for the epic race that took place 23 years ago between Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley. Since Beardsley was only 26 and Salazar 23 at the time, everyone assumed that this would be the start of a long and glorious rivalry.
Instead Beardsley soon began a descent into drug addiction that brought him perilously close to dying. Salazar's decline was more gradual, his vigor slowly giving way to baffling symptoms that left him completely exhausted. Brant's portraits of the painkiller-addicted Beardsley and the depression-plagued Salazar are at once sensitive and hair-raising. The supporting characters are also richly drawn, from Alberto's father, Jose Salazar, a towering presence with a fascinating history and a former close friend of Fidel Castro, to Bill Squires, Beardsley's coach, a Casey Stengel–like figure whose oddball goofiness masks an encyclopedic knowledge of distance running. This elegantly written story is riveting nonfiction at its very best.
An account of the 1982 Boston Marathon traces the dramatic competition between its top two contenders, discussing how Salazar's and Beardsley's triumphs gave way to their respective battles with depression and painkiller addiction. 30,000 first printing.
An account of the 1982 Boston Marathon traces the dramatic competition between its top two contenders, discussing how Salazar's and Beardsley's triumphs gave way to their respective battles with depression and painkiller addiction.
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- [Emmaus, Pa.] : Rodale ; [New York] : Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, c2006
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