Heroes, Villians & Velodromes

It's a great story, well told. The rise of Team GB from the back markers of world track cycling to the all-conquering heroes of Beijing.

The subtitle on my copy is 'Chris Hoy and Britain's Track Cycling Revolution' and although Chris does feature prominently (even more so in the reprinted version below, hastily rushed out for Christmas gift sales) there is plenty about the other team members and also the back room staff who played such a key role in the transformation.

I was particularly happy to see so much prominence given to Craig MacLean and his achievements, which even though not quite up to three golds in one Olympics still helped to pave the way for Chris. My favourite story from the book concerns Craig and the opening of the Craig MacLean Leisure Centre in Grantown-on-Spey, near where I grew up:

MacLean was flattered. And after he cut the ribbon, he was presented with a large painting commissioned to mark the occasion, done by a local artist, who'd worked from a picture of MacLean in action. Or it was supposed to be MacLean. But as MacLean studied the painting he realized it wasn't. It was Chris Hoy. 'Typical,' says MacLean with a wry smile.

My only complaint is the US spelling used throughout and all the nasty 'z's (see quote above) that permeate the text. I am guessing that HarperCollins didn't choose this convention because they are expecting thousands of US sales and assume that it is standard policy across all their titles now. Oh well, my hatred of Rupert Murdoch had been waning recently so it's good to find yet another thing to add to his list of crimes ...