Running the Race by John W Keddie

Running the Race by John W Keddie

His eyes were on the prize. For Eric Liddell, there was only one race to run and only one glory to gain: the glory of God.

The name Eric Liddell is a familiar one to many, having gained much fame through the film Chariots of Fire. A Christian athlete and missionary, his passion for his Saviour could be seen throughout his life.

As a sport historian and an advisor for the Chariots of Fire movie, John Keddie is well qualified to document Eric Liddell's life. With an impressive depth of understanding, Keddie's biography spans his university days in Edinburgh, sporting achievements at the Paris Olympics, mission in China and internment at Weihsien POW Camp.

In this engaging account of this man's extraordinary journey, Keddie takes readers beyond the heart of sport to the heart of life.

His eyes were on the prize. For Eric Liddell, there was only one race to run and only one glory to gain: the glory of God.

The name Eric Liddell is a familiar one to many, having gained much fame through the film Chariots of Fire. A Christian athlete and missionary, his passion for his Saviour could be seen throughout his life.

As a sport historian and an advisor for the Chariots of Fire movie, John Keddie is well qualified to document Eric Liddell's life. With an impressive depth of understanding, Keddie's biography spans his university days in Edinburgh, sporting achievements at the Paris Olympics, mission in China and internment at Weihsien POW Camp.

In this engaging account of this man's extraordinary journey, Keddie takes readers beyond the heart of sport to the heart of life.

John Keddie was born in Edinburgh in 1946. An athlete in his youth, he was a Scottish Junior triple jump champion in 1965 and represented Scotland once, besides playing first class rugby for Boroughmuir Former Pupils RFC (1966-1970). He also competed for Mitcham A.C. (1973-1975).

John has long had a close interest in the history of Scottish athletics. In 1982 his work on Scottish Athletics (the official Centenary History of the Scottish Amarteur Athletic Association) was published, covering 100 years of amateur athletics north of the border. One member of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians wrote of this book: I can already tell you that it one of the best historical works on sports that I have ever seen. A milestone, a landmark...no exaggeration, indeed.
An Accountant by profession (for a time he was Commercial Manager of Dunlop Sports Company in London), he later entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland and served in Burghead (Morayshire) 1987-1996, and Bracadale on the Island of Skye (1997-2012). He retired from that work in April, 2012.
Besides his young person's biography of Eric, entitled Finish the Race, which was published by Christian Focus Publications (Tain, Ross-shire) in 2011, among his other contributions to is his acclaimed popular fully illustrated biography of the athlete-missionary Eric Liddell entitled Running the Race (first published by EPBooks in 2007, with a 2nd revised and enlarged edition, 2012). John is also the author of a biography of a 19th Century Scottish Theologian, George Smeaton (EPBooks, 2007) and has contributed articles to the Free Church Witness, Evangelical Times, Athletics Weekly and Track Stats (Journal of the National Union of Track Statisticians).