THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER

With his hard-working dad dead and his mum fooling around with her “fancy man,” Colin Smith slips into committing a few bits of non-violent crime. Beginning with stealing a car for a joy ride with his mate and a couple of “birds” and ending with the late night theft of a money box from a bread bakery, the young man with a prematurely old face is sent off to Ruxton Towers, a reform school run by a well-meaning “governor” obsessed with sports and their curative powers for rowdy young men. Soon enough he realizes that Colin has an admirable talent as a long distance runner, a gift that can be put to good use in a race against runners from a nearby public school, boys with perfect uniforms, graceful running style, cultured manners, and plummy accents. In the race Colin momentarily discovers the only power he has over authority figures. – Chale Nafus