David Walsh and Pippa York – The Escape: The Tour, The Cyclist and Me
22nd October @ 18:00 – 19:00
The first memoir from one of British cycling’s most enigmatic characters.
In the summer of 2020 sportswriter David Walsh asked Pippa York if she’d be his travelling companion for the Tour de France. The deal was that he would sort out the logistics beforehand, the hotels, the transport details and she would do the day-to-day tasks of getting them about and adding her insight occasionally. It would also mean she would return to the race she had ridden eleven times as Robert Millar.
This is the resulting book: a unique and entertaining sporting odyssey, using the minutiae of Pippa and David’s trip, and the iconic landmarks of the Tour de France, to explore her early life growing up in working class Glasgow; her entry into racing; the psychological aspects of the sport and how that manifested itself in her personality; her ups and downs as a competitor; her post-career and her eventual transition from male to female in her 40s.
Touching on doping, gender in sport and the unique wonders and day-to-day challenges of the Tour, The Escape is both an unforgettable travelogue through the world’s greatest cycling event and a one-of-a-kind memoir from arguably the sport’s most enigmatic and fascinating competitors.
Tickets £12.00 (£8.00 Students)
Tickets are not available for general purchase until 29th August.
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