Otley Bookfest 2026 - Mountain running

Mountain Running
Friday 27 November • Doors 6pm • Showtime 7–9pm
Wesley Hall, Otley Common

Boff Whalley opens Otley Bookfest 2026 with a night about the strange pull of running up hills. He's joined by Richard Askwith, Sarah Rowell and Carl Morris for a conversation about the fells, the history and the sheer bloody mindedness of it.

Richard Askwith

Richard Askwith is the multi-award-winning author of books such as Feet in the Clouds ("a tale of fell-running and obsession"), Running Free ("a runner's journey back to nature"), Today We Die a Little (a biography of the great Emil Zátopek) and, most recently, The Race Against Time (about running in later life). A keen runner for over 45 years, he claims to have achieved "almost nothing" in the sport apart from "life-changing satisfaction". But he keeps returning hopefully to the starting-line – and that, he thinks, might be an achievement in itself. 

Sarah Rowell

Sarah Rowell has spent her life intertwined with sport and especially running, whether competing – running in the 1984 Olympics, setting a British Record for the marathon and then moving onto her more favoured terrain of trails and mountain – or in academia. Sarah has a PhD and has written two books on mountain and trail running and has (in her own words) "been a blazer as Team Leader of the GBR Mountain Running Team". She is currently the President of the World Mountain Running Association, and continues to "try hard" to orienteer, ski and climb while moving ever slower...

Carl Morris

Carl Morris is a sociologist, historian and social psychologist at the University of Lancashire. He is the author of multiple books, including most recently, Dirtbag Dreams: A History of Mountain, Ultra and Trail Running. His writing looks to combine rigorous academic scholarship with a passion for vivid storytelling and bringing research to a wider audience. A keen runner and climber himself, Carl enjoys the uncertainty and adventure of 100-mile and multi-day mountain racing.

Tickets £10 (plus small booking fee)  • Bar open from 6pm

We want everyone to feel welcome at Otley Common. If you have any access requirements or need any support to attend this event, please get in touch with us before the day and we'll do our best to help. hello@otleycommon.org