Book Review

Trail Running: Chamonix and the Mont Blanc region

By Kingsley Jones, Cicerone Press April 2016, ISBN 13:781852848002 Available from Cicerone cicerone.co.uk 25% discount for members.

I received a review copy of this book at the beginning of January and it struck me as an excellent guide with the kind of detailed knowledge that only comes from someone who is very familiar with their subject. A week later I was given a place in the OCC race as part of this year's UTMB (routes 38 and 37 in the guide respectively). It has now become an invaluable resource to plan much of the training, transport and accommodation required for the big event.

Once you use Kingsley Jones' book for its true purpose, what was a knowledgeable guide becomes more like the friend who really understands the area you intend to visit. It's a field guide rather than a comprehensive how-to of running around Mont Blanc and for taking with you rather than reading by the pool. So there isn't much by way of travelogue: that's what blogs and magazines are for.

This book should find a place in the packing of anyone running in the area, it's a shame there aren't more guides like this for other parts of Europe and the UK but with the huge growth in trail running it can only be a matter of time before more follow, I just hope they are written by people with the same familiarity of, and passion for, their regions as this.

Oliver Blaydon

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