Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, & the Greatest Race Ever Run [Hardcover]
- Author by Fitzgerald, Matt
Editorial Reviews
From Publisher
The 1989 Ironman(R) World Championship was the greatest race ever. In a spectacular duel that become known as the Iron War, the world's two strongest athletes raced side by side at world-record pace for a grueling 139 miles.
Driven by one of the fiercest rivalries in triathlon, Dave Scott and Mark Allen raced shoulder to shoulder through the Ironman 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike race, and 26.2-mile marathon. After 8 punishing hours, both men would demolish the previous record--and cross the finish line just 58 seconds apart. The race would redefine the limits of human endurance and the role of mental toughness in sports.
In his new book "Iron War," sports journalist Matt Fitzgerald writes a riveting epic about how Allen and Scott drove themselves and each other through the most awe-inspiring race in sports history. "Iron War" goes beyond the pulse-pounding race story to offer a fascinating exploration of the lives of the world's two toughest men and their unquenchable desire to succeed.
Weaving an examination of mental resolve into a gripping tale of athletic adventure, "Iron War" is a soaring narrative of two champions and the paths that led to their stunning final showdown.
Reviews
- From Booklist
- There couldn't be two more divergent individuals in a single sport than Dave Scott and Mark Allen. One is an old-school jock (Scott) for whom victory comes with hard work, constant training, and a hard-edge attitude. The other (Allen) takes a more spiritual approach, letting his body tell him what it needs and freeing his mind of all negativity. Their different approaches served both men well as triathletes. Scott became the man to beat in the biggest event of the sport, the Ironman World Championship, and Allen became the most famous runner-up to that main event, though in all other races, he was unbeatable. Still, he played second fiddle to Scott, who was called the Man. In the Ironman match of 1989, the two raced nose-to-nose to a thrilling conclusion. Fitzgerald opens the book in the final leg of the race, but before revealing the outcome, he takes readers through the lives of these two amazing endurance athletestheir training, their mind-sets, their rivalry, their mutual respect. A true page-turner about a too-little-known great moment in sports.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
Quote Reviews
"The 1989 Ironman World Championship is widely considered the most epic race in Ironman history, if not all of endurance sport. In his new book "Iron War," Fitzgerald recounts in gripping detail the showdown between Mark Allen and Dave Scott. "Iron War" delves into the vastly different personalities and psyches of these two iconic athletes and presents an anatomy of mental toughness that both men shared." -- "Triathlete "magazine
"Dave Scott and Mark Allen had one of the greatest battles in sport history during their epic 1989 Ironman Hawaii matchup. Matt Fitzgerald captures the spirit of that duel in "Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen and the Greatest Race Ever Run." "Iron War" really a book that should be on your bookshelf if you have even the slightest interest in the sport of triathlon, but it also is a great read for anyone looking for inspiration in general." -- Slowtwitch.com"Captivating, animated, uniquely readable and downright thrilling. "Iron War" is a truly gre
