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Recently separate articles on Ron Hill and Derek Ibbotson have mentioned Alf Tupper, the Tough of the Track, as an inspiration to both. I don't know how many elderly Brits there are out there on this Message Board, but I'm curious if anyone else remembers the legendary Alf , and/or was inspired by him?
From what I recall, the author of those stories didn't really know much about the details of track (which may not, in the context, have been all that important) and was somewhat, shall we say, biased? - Oxbridge runners always were defeated, and African runners were always treacherous - this long before African runners were even showing up in middle distance and distance races, but there were some in the Alf Tupper stories....Alf lived under bridges, ate a diet of fish and chips, and always managed to beat the toffs - Is there some anthology of those stories in print, or some archival repository where they might be accessed ?
And what about Wilson? Even more improbvable, but always interesting.
From what I recall, the author of those stories didn't really know much about the details of track (which may not, in the context, have been all that important) and was somewhat, shall we say, biased? - Oxbridge runners always were defeated, and African runners were always treacherous - this long before African runners were even showing up in middle distance and distance races, but there were some in the Alf Tupper stories....Alf lived under bridges, ate a diet of fish and chips, and always managed to beat the toffs - Is there some anthology of those stories in print, or some archival repository where they might be accessed ?
And what about Wilson? Even more improbvable, but always interesting.
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