Novel Cache: Loneliness of Long Distance Runner Traditional Cache
INCATOG: Time to archive as pressure from adult education bites
Novel Cache: Loneliness of Long Distance Runner
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A Bison Container with Log and appropriate accessory. Please bring
your own pencil.
This cache is dedicated to this Classic Short Story,"The Loneliness
of the Long Distance Runner" by Alan Sillitoe. The book focuses on
Colin, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a
blue-collar area, who has bleak prospects in life and few interests
beyond petty crime. The boy turns to long-distance running as a
method of both an emotional and a physical escape from his
situation. In the story Colin is caught by the police for robbing a
bakery and is sentenced to be confined in Ruxton Towers, a borstal
(prison school) for delinquent youths. Taken there in handcuffs and
detained in bleak and highly restrictive circumstances, he seeks
solace in long-distance running, attracting the notice of the
school’s authorities for his physical prowess. Long-distance
running offers Smith a welcome distraction from the brutal drudgery
of the Borstal regime and he is offered the prospect of early
release from Borstal, if he wins in an important cross-country
competition against a prestigious public school. For Ruxton Towers
to win the cross-country race would be a major PR boost for the
establishment, and Smith has an obvious incentive to
cooperate.
However, when the day of the race arrives Smith throws victory
away: after speeding ahead of the other runners he deliberately
stops running a few metres short of the finishing line, even though
he is well ahead and could easily win. Seconds tick by as Smith
stands there, in full view of the amazed race spectators who shout
at him to finish the race. However, he deliberately lets the other
runners pass him and cross the finishing line, thereby losing the
race in a defiant gesture aimed against his Borstal captors, and
the repressive forces that they represent. In deliberately losing
the race, Smith demonstrates his free spirit and independence. The
response of the Borstal authorities to Smith's action is
heavy-handed. With the prospect of early release gone, Smith
resigns himself to the drudgery of the soul-destroying manual
labour he is forced to do. However, looking back on his actions he
has no regrets.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Oruvaq gur gbc bs nal Vil pbirerq zrgny hcevtug.
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