Former Impartial Reporter journalist Graham Little has a new book out in which he looks at what drives competitors like himself to take part in the ever-growing discipline of endurance sports.
In Man Tests, the father of three and sports presenter Graham Little tells how he pushes himself to the limit – sometimes with unintentionally hilarious results – as he takes on some of the world’s toughest challenges, and finds out what drives some of us to give up modern comforts, and countless hours, in the name of sport.
What begins as a punt with a mate to give the Welsh 1,000m Peaks Race ‘a go’ (spoiler: they end up getting hopelessly lost up the mountain and risking frostbite), starts to become an obsession, as Graham joins the burgeoning community of extreme sporting.
We get into Graham’s head as he completes his first triathlon, runs the famous desert Marathon des Sables (called the toughest footrace on Earth), and swims from Europe to Asia – all while trying (and usually failing) to fit in training around family and domestic life.
When not asking ‘why am I doing this to myself?!’ Graham finds there is a common fixation, that isn’t about being the fittest, strongest or fastest, but instead a simple primal joy that comes from risk, adventure and survival – and one that makes it worth the test.
Man Tests, the (Mis) Adventures of an Endurance Fanatic by Graham Little is published in trade paperback by Ebury Press and is in shops now.