A BOOK WHICH explores boxing at the height of unrest in Northern Ireland is one of six to feature in the 2019 William Hill Sports Book of the Year shortlist.
Donald McRae’s ‘In Sunshine or in Shadow: How Boxing Brought Hope in the Troubles’ is nominated for the prestigious award.
McRae is a two-time winner after being recognised in 1996 and 2002. His latest book charts trainer Gerry Storey’s experience training both Republican and Loyalist boxers – including future world champion Barry McGuigan.
Another former two-time winner of the award, Duncan Hamilton, makes this year’s shortlist for ‘The Great Romantic: Cricket and the Golden Age of Neville Cardus’, as does Rick Reilly’s ‘Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump’
The shortlist is completed by Adharanand Finn’s exploration into long distance running, Lara Prior Palmer’s recollection of claiming victory in 2013 at the 1000km Mongol Derby and Andy Woodward’s brave memoir, ‘Position of Trust: A Football Dream Betrayed’.
Irish books by Richie Sadlier and Andy Lee, which is ghostwritten by The42′s deputy editor Niall Kelly, were part of the 14-book longlist which was released last month.
The winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2019 will be announced at an afternoon reception at The Royal Horseguards Hotel in London on Thursday 5 December.
The shortlist in full (alphabetically by author’s surname):
1. Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance by Adharanand Finn (Faber & Faber)
2. The Great Romantic: Cricket and the Golden Age of Neville Cardus by Duncan Hamilton (Hodder & Stoughton)
3. In Sunshine or in Shadow: How Boxing Brought Hope in the Troubles by Donald McRae (Simon & Schuster)
4. Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Wildest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer (Penguin Random House)
5. Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump by Rick Reilly (Headline Publishing Group)
6. Position of Trust: A Football Dream Betrayed by Andy Woodward with Tom Watt (Hodder & Stoughton)
Eoin Toolan and Murray Kinsella dial up Gavan Casey on the therapy couch to provide the post-mortem to Ireland’s World Cup implosion at the hands of New Zealand
