Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Recent retiree Maurice has the tracksuit bottoms and the running shoes. Now he just needs to get off the couch.

A group of strangers in Belfast have formed a running group, determined to go from absolute beginners to completing a 5K Parkrun in just nine weeks. As their shared runs get longer and tougher, friendships are forged and relationships challenged. But will any of them actually make it over the finish line?
Young couple Brendan and Angela are running from their doubts about their rapidly approaching wedding; librarian Cathy is in pursuit of a new life following a health scare; Syrian refugee Yana races from the trauma of her past; and recent retiree Maurice is determined to get fit for his family, step by painful step, even if he’s not actually part of their lives right now…
Author
David Park is one of Northern Ireland's most acclaimed writers. He is the author of nine novels and two collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Authors' Club First Novel Award, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award and the University of Ulster's McCrea Literary Award, three times. He has also received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His most recent novel β€˜Travelling in A Strange Land’ won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and was a Radio 4 β€˜Book at Bedtime’.

Read by: Des McAleer
Written by: David Park
Produced by: Michael Shannon

15 minutes

Last on

Wed 8 Jan 2020 18:30

Broadcasts

  • Sat 4 Jan 2020 10:30
  • Wed 8 Jan 2020 18:30

Featured in...