34 replies to this topic

[wannabeagreyhound]

Has anyone had a chance yet to have a look at Graeme Sims book dedicated to the life and times of Percy Cerutty, If so what are your thoughts and opinions on the book?

[Davep]

My dad had long interviews with Graem Sims and contributed a significant amount of detail particularly in the period 1946 to say 54. He got an advanced copy of the book which I quickly grabbed and have still got. Firstly I take my hat off to Graem Sims for his thorough researching of the subject. It is a great read, particularly for someone like myself who was exposed to Percy, albeit towards the latter part of his life in my case, although my dad was one of Percy's "first" boys. I enjoyed the book as it brought back a lot of memories that I was involved with, therefore it had particular relivence to me. I think you would have to be an athletic enthusiast or someone who new Percy to actually buy the book.
I actually lived with Percy for three years (1964-66 incl) and attended Rosebud High School. While I was not particularly interested in athletics at that age (mid teens), my dad thought the experience would be highly beneficial (which it was). To this day I am sure a lot of Percy's philosophy and zest for life and "getting stuck in to it" has rubbed off on me. It did take me until I was 40 to get serious about athletics and now (at 53)it is one of the most important aspects of my life.
Therefore, in summary, the book was a great read for me and told very accuratley (a couple of little errors such as Harold Holts dissappearance was 17th December 1967 (a Sunday morning, remember it well as we were on a training run around the point when we saw all these helicopters decend on Cheviot beach not Xmas eve as he states). It also mentioned a few things I was unaware of too.
Certainly worth a read.
Cheers
David Pottage

[wannabeagreyhound]

Nice review Dave after work today Im heading to the book store to buy a copy, One of my running mates Barry trained under Percy and the more I hear about this man even though he was well before my time the more you realise how far he was ahead of his time,

"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone."
Percy Cerutty

[Thomas]

That's not a bad line to use when people ask why you run so much!

[Jogger]

I haven't read the new biog, but I did buy the Percy Cerutty auto-biog "Sport Is My Life" that was published in 1966 from the Canberra Marathon bookstall. Just waiting till I have the time to read it. The guy there has some great books for sale every year.

[Ares]

Tried the challenge he developed?

-Press (mil. press) your bodyweight
-Swim a mile
-Walk (or run) 100k

All in 48hrs.

[Razor]

Its actually 100 miles isn't it Ares?

[Ares]

Could be.  It's 100 of something.

[CRL]

I am about halfway through this book at the moment.  I knew virtually nothing about Percy Cerutty before, except for having some vague idea he coached Herb Elliot and that Herb was quite a runner.  

Percy sounds like an absolutely extraordinary character.  It completely blows my mind how far ahead of his time he was in how to get the most out of the running body.  Just read last night that he trained his "boys" on the Tan back before it was really used by anyone except to exercise military and police horses!  I'd love to know what he'd think of the thousands of Melbournians running round and round it now!

[nullapino]

As one of many Portsea trained and inspired runners from the 60,s, and a "Percy born and bred devotee"...  I have also just had the privalege of reading "WHY DIE".

The man was a genious, miles ahead of his time.
Sure he was a little different from all the other coaches. A Genious goes about things a little different from the norm.

But he got the results quicker than any other coach because he understood what made people tick, he understood diet, he understood the mind and the important role it played in acheiving the best from oneself in all forms.

Dave Pottage sums the book up very well, and any one who hasnt read this GREAT READ and wants to be inspired, rush out and get it. IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!!

Congratulations to Author Gream Sims

Regards Neil Padley

[Virtual]

Percy probably could claim to be the first Australian ultramarathoner with his road 100 miles in 24hrs being reported on in 1945.

Whenever I'm doing a long run down in the Portsea area I drop in to the Portsea oval where Perce held his interval training.  Just knowing that runners of the calibre of Macmillan and Landy were doing intervals on the same turf in 1951 usually gives me a boost.

[The Ginger Bread Man]

this man is one of my heroes.

i read his book "athletics, how to be a champion" and it changed my life

also worth tracking down it outlines the whole philosophy

run run for as long as you can...  :D    :)    ;)

[Eagle]

Read the book soon after it came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. He was man who thought outside the square and was in front of his time with some thoughts and theories.

He lived in a house opposite the Tan - as you go up Anderson street and turn right there are some shops on the other sie of the road - just along from them. It is described in the book that he used to be opposite his house to encourage his runners as they went past. I ran the Tan when in Melboure in January - ran the Tan for the first time and thought I could hear Percy as I ran by his house.

Davep - what a wonderful story and what  great experince to have lived with the man in your teens. If I could talk to someone who has gone Percy would be high on the list - Arthur Newton maybe on top.  B)

[KevinCassidy]

I hope everyone takes the chance to pay homage to his grave that lies peacefully in the Sorrento Cemetery.  His headstone makes no mention of his extraordinary career.

[natkas]

Reviving an old topic...

I just started reading this book and knew nothing of Percy Cerruty, so it's been interesting so far.

[Bellthorpe]

KevinTiller, on Apr 18 2003, 09:40 AM, said:

I haven't read the new biog, but I did buy the Percy Cerutty auto-biog "Sport Is My Life" that was published in 1966 from the Canberra Marathon bookstall. Just waiting till I have the time to read it. The guy there has some great books for sale every year.

Have you read it yet? If not, you can mail it to me, I'll read it and send it back, with a synopsis and critique.

[Jogger]

I might well do that if you email me your address. you'd have to owe me a big bloody favour  
I am still selling it for $80 (!)

[Bellthorpe]

This conversation has piqued my interest in the book, so I've requested it from the National Library in Canberra.

[Digger]

The other Cerutty Books to read are:
Be Fit! or Be Damned! 1967

Middle Distance Running 1964

And speaking of paying Homage, if the F2P finished at the Percy Wills Cerutty Statute, what difference, influence would it have on the race?

[KevinCassidy]

Digger, on Jan 18 2010, 09:49 PM, said:

The other Cerutty Books to read are:
Be Fit! or Be Damned! 1967

Middle Distance Running 1964

And speaking of paying Homage, if the F2P finished at the Percy Wills Cerutty Statute, what difference, influence would it have on the race?

Heavens above, Digger.  This would require us to set up a race finish area in and around the tombstones of the local cemetery.  I can't imagine this would win us any friends amongst the cemetery trust and visiting mourners!!    

However, the condition that some runners are in when the reach the finish, a cemetery is probably an appropriate place!!

Other problems would be........
1. A shortening of the course by over two kilometres.
2. A name change to Frankston to Sorrento
3. The final kilometres being run through the middle of a busy shopping strip
4. Negotiating several crossings of busy intersections and roundabouts in the final stages

[Digger]

KevinCassidy, on Jan 18 2010, 04:56 PM, said:

Heavens above, Digger.  This would require us to set up a race finish area in and around the tombstones of the local cemetery.  I can't imagine this would win us any friends amongst the cemetery trust and visiting mourners!!

But I think the statue is in the Portsea Football ground, I'll check tonight, as its refered to in towards the end of "Why Die".

And if so, the Football ground(where ever it is), my have toilets and some shelter.

Maybe we could also have a picnic lunch.

[KevinCassidy]

Digger, on Jan 18 2010, 10:09 PM, said:

But I think the statue is in the Portsea Football ground, I'll check tonight, as its refered to in towards the end of "Why Die".

And if so, the Football ground(where ever it is), my have toilets and some shelter.

Maybe we could also have a picnic lunch.

The footy ground [Percy Cerutty Oval] is a left turn at the Portsea Hotel and left again into Blair St.  The difference in distance would be minimal if any.

I am intrigued, Digger. I'll check it out in due course.  To be honest, I'm not keen on changing the traditional course with all its history.

[chilliman]

KevinCassidy, on Jan 19 2010, 07:56 AM, said:

However, the condition that some runners are in when the reach the finish, a cemetery is probably an appropriate place!!
Other problems would be........

5) Will have to ditch the mirrors, due to their ineffectiveness with Vampires and Witches.

[Digger]

KevinCassidy, on Jan 18 2010, 05:20 PM, said:

I'm not keen on changing the traditional course with all its history.

I'm also intrigued by the "tradition", as I can't remember reading any reference to a Cerutty training run from F2P.

The run I remember reading was from his Portsea Camp to Flinders St Station, which he rated as about 60 miles, and ran the Nepean Hwy all of the way.

[Pink Lady]

Digger, on Jan 18 2010, 05:35 PM, said:

I'm also intrigued by the "tradition", as I can't remember reading any reference to a Cerutty training run from F2P.
The run I remember reading was from his Portsea Camp to Flinders St Station, which he rated as about 60 miles, and ran the Nepean Hwy all of the way.

Just to clarify - I don't know if it was a 'tradition'. However it was not unknown for Percy to stop the car in Frankston on a Friday afternoon and 'invite' the boys to run the rest of the way to the camp. No-one that I know of ever refused the 'invitation' because they knew it would be accompanied by some fairly abrupt assessment of their character.

If this practice was to be followed, then finishing at the training oval off Back Beach Rd would be closer to the original than finishing at the former army camp (where incidently we offically never went).

[KevinCassidy]

This all got the better of me today.  I was going to have a run up in the Dandenongs but decided to head to Portsea instead.  I initially enjoyed a leisurely 15km along the coastal trails around Portsea and Sorrento then pointed my vehicle in the direction of the Percy Cerutty Oval.  It is off the back beach road and easy to miss if you don’t know what you are looking for.  A tiny dirt road takes you around behind several houses and bingo…there you are.   Any runners not familiar with the area would almost certainly miss it altogether.   It gets used as a car park for the Portsea Swim each year [I have parked on the oval several times which seems somewhat sacrilegious].

As far as a finishing venue goes, the oval offers no facilities at all other than a hall that can be hired.  If a cricket/football game was happening [which I guess is quite likely], then the car park and narrow entrance would be packed to the rafters!

Percy’s monument is so small that I walked right past it, only to find it as I walked back up the slope.  It is hidden under a large tree and was unveiled by Nancy on April 24th 2000.  I was shocked to see that his name had been misspelt.  Surely after 10 years, someone may have gotten around to rectifying things!!

The tradition I was referring to was from 1973.  Read the race history for more details.  

I am familiar with Percy’s Melbourne to Portsea epics but he also dropped athletes in Frankston on a Friday night for the run back down the highway.  Obviously these runs finished at his camp but the 1973 recreation went to the Army Camp gates for the simple reason that that was as far as you could go back then.  

The 1973 tradition will remain.

[Digger]

KevinCassidy, on Jan 19 2010, 03:28 AM, said:

Percy’s monument is so small that I walked right past it, only to find it as I walked back up the slope.  It is hidden under a large tree and was unveiled by Nancy on April 24th 2000.  I was shocked to see that his name had been misspelt.  Surely after 10 years, someone may have gotten around to rectifying things!!

I was surprised that after my 'post 19' above, where I deliberately spelt Percy's name wrong that nobody picked me up on it.

And when I 1st heard about the Statue and the incorrect spelling, I felt a sense of outrage.

I now feel a similar sense of outrage that the statue is 'out of sight-out of mind'.

I think we should write some letters to the council, asking for the spelling to be corrected, and better still, ask the council to consider moving the statue to a more prominent position in the Portsea area.

Thoughts anybody?

If you agree, whom in the council should we write to?

[Pink Lady]

Digger, on Jan 19 2010, 04:48 PM, said:

I now feel a similar sense of outrage that the statue is 'out of sight-out of mind'.
I think we should write some letters to the council, asking for the spelling to be corrected, and better still, ask the council to consider moving the statue to a more prominent position in the Portsea area.

I'm not sure I agree with moving the statue away from the oval. After all that was where hundreds of hours of coaching sessions took place. However, if it hidden under the trees, that could be addressed by putting in a couple of signs and/or a footpath and/or a seat for contemplation

[Simmo]

Digger, on Jan 18 2010, 03:49 PM, said:

The other Cerutty Books to read are:
Be Fit! or Be Damned! 1967

Middle Distance Running 1964

And speaking of paying Homage, if the F2P finished at the Percy Wills Cerutty Statute, what difference, influence would it have on the race?

Herb Elliott's book The Golden Mile also has some great stories, as well as Herb's take on Percy's character, coaching and general philosophy of life.

Wish I'd held onto the copy of Athletics - How to be a Champion that I had in my teenage years.

Edited by Simmo, 20 January 2010 - 02:32 PM.

[KevinCassidy]

Pink Lady, on Jan 20 2010, 02:32 AM, said:

I'm not sure I agree with moving the statue away from the oval. After all that was where hundreds of hours of coaching sessions took place. However, if it hidden under the trees, that could be addressed by putting in a couple of signs and/or a footpath and/or a seat for contemplation

I agree PL.  It should not be moved away from the oval but from what I saw yesterday, it wouldn't be hard to give it a more prominent position.

[Scott5Sports]

I'm keen to get a copy of Why Die and read it for myself. Does anyone have a copy I could by off them or know where I can buy a copy?
Cheers,
Scott

[Tony123]

Scott5Sports, on Oct 30 2010, 10:43 AM, said:

I'm keen to get a copy of Why Die and read it for myself. Does anyone have a copy I could by off them or know where I can buy a copy?
Cheers,
Scott

Have you tried Melbourne Sports Books http://www.melbourne...tsbooks.com.au/ ?.  Santo at Melbourne Sports Books seems to be able to track down these books.  You may have to call or email him to see if he can get if for you.

[Davo]

Scott5Sports, on Oct 29 2010, 11:43 PM, said:

I'm keen to get a copy of Why Die and read it for myself. Does anyone have a copy I could by off them or know where I can buy a copy?
Cheers,
Scott

Don't know about buying one, but may I recommend you hook into your local library system. And if they don't have it, they can arrange an inter-library loan for you from another library system. That's how I got to read it a few years ago.