New starts, old comforts, and the search for serenity
#6: Coming of age banger racing, the secret life of tribute acts, the birth of a legendary computer game, and a memorial at sunrise...
Tales from the fringes of sport and society…
New Year, new you. Right?
"Every moment is a fresh beginning," said T.S. Eliot. Another Eliot, George this time, said, "It is never too late to be what you might have been". And then there's the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who probably stroked his wispy white beard before whispering, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
January is typically awash with the theme of reset and refocus. You’ve probably spotted a few of these uplifting quotes on social media recently, superimposed over waterfalls or clouds. The gyms are heaving, every treadmill pounding to the sound of a ‘ker-ching!’ as the number of new memberships is probably only pipped by the amount of us signing up for meal delivery plans.
Then there are the trips to the tip or the local charity shop, for a generous deposit of whatever it was in our wardrobe, shed, or garage that it felt necessary to shift as soon as Jools Holland played his last note of 2023. I’m just as guilty: anyone visiting British Heart Foundation in Morpeth will find a dozen of my check shirts up for grabs.
But what’s often lost among the January yearning for a reboot is that, for many of us, we can find our verve, our zip, our spark, when we revert. Serenity isn’t always something you need to carve anew, it can just as easily be something you’ve done before. Probably something you left behind because, as The Rifles sang in Out in the Past, “life has a habit of getting in the way.”
So, what about New Year… old you?
For some, it might be picking the guitar up for the first time in a decade, and finding the time to get good at it again. For others, it’s playing football weekly and remembering why you did this every night on a muddy field until the light faded to black. It could be going to the movies to watch the latest blockbuster with nothing but a large Sprite and a packet of Revels for company.
Hell, it might even be playing computer games for the first time since your teens. There’s a stigma around adults who enjoy gaming, but do you think anyone is worried about their heating bills or passive-aggressive boss while they’re occupying the body of a cheery Italian plumber riding a small green dinosaur?
The privileged among us know where our serenity can be found. Those who’ve discovered the sweet spot that makes our shoulders relax, puts our breath at ease, and allows our mind to take a beat. (I’m the football example above, by the way. My body may no longer be teenage, but it’s been great to discover that endorphins don’t get old).
For those yet to find it, don’t feel obliged to follow the latest ‘high-performance’ mumbo jumbo being chirped out by pseudo-psychologists and grifting gobshites. A journey of a thousand miles might begin with a single step, but nothing is stopping that step from being backwards.
This month’s Off-Field centres around people who’ve found their serenity by running, cycling, singing, photographing, driving, or dressing up. Some have used it as a way to endure hardships that most of us couldn’t even imagine. Others, to try to make sense of the manic and often frightening world we live in. Most simply do what they do because they enjoy it. And it’s amazing what that’ll do for your health and wellbeing.
Happy New Year, and enjoy the read. If you do, please consider sharing it with someone else who might, too.
Golden Hours: A Tribute to Nils Amelinckx, 1987-2023
A few years ago I edited a commercial project that involved profiling a wide variety of fascinating characters in adventure sports and travel. I can't remember the exact brief, but it was something as simple as "amazing people doing amazing things". Subjects would either write 1,600 words themselves if confident enough to do so, or recite their story to me over several conversations. In all cases, despite some loose editing from yours truly, these were personal essays in their own words.
It was a great gig, not least because I was given free rein on who I featured. There was one about a doctor in Antarctica during the pandemic, who at the time was probably the only doctor on the planet who hadn't encountered Covid-19. There was another about the stunt man tasked with testing Ninja Warrior sets. There was a mountain guide, a storm chaser, a wildlife photographer. And then there was Nils.
Nils Amelinckx described himself as “Belgian-bred” but was especially proud to be living in the Lake District with his wife and two young children. He’d met his future wife Laura while gliding along the snowy slopes of France, but this snowboarder extraordinaire would transfer his passion into all things mountain biking when they moved to the Lakes to start a life together. The natural beauty of the surroundings also saw him become increasingly proficient with a camera.
I reached out to Nils in the summer of 2021 and asked if he wanted to share his tale. That story surrounded not only his passion for the outdoors and his gifted photography, but also the fact that he continued to do all this despite having been handed, in his words, a “death sentence". He’d been diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2017, when his wife was pregnant with their second child.
Nils agreed to write his story, keen to share his experiences but also to promote a movement he’d launched, Rider Resilience, a community that encouraged anyone facing adversity to get out and ride a bike as much as possible.
Nils was a pleasure to work with during the months we spent crafting his essay. His positive outlook belied the challenges he was facing, and he seemed thrilled at the chance to write about his passion for cycling and photography. He did so with fluency and flair, and in truth, his natural creativity and talent meant there was little need for any editorial input from me. Read this excerpt and tell me it doesn’t stop you in your tracks:
I have always preferred a sunrise to a sunset. They come armed with unique characteristics, like the sky’s purple-ish hue and blades of grass often adorned with dew drops or even a touch of frost in winter. They feel somewhat exclusive seeing as most people will witness far fewer sunrises than their evening counterparts, a pattern which on the trail translates to an element of solitude. You have your adventure at dawn and come back for the rest of the day to play with. You are making the most of your day, and have won at life before breakfast.
Unfortunately, I stopped winning at life just under four years ago, when I was politely informed I had stage four cancer at the age of 30. In layman's terms that equates to a death sentence, with an average of five years left on death row. I quickly realised I may not be able to add days to my life, but I was determined to add life to the remainder of my days.
To no surprise, Nils went on to be published in several prestigious cycling and adventure mags after we worked together, including Sidetracked, Mountain Biking UK, Mountain Bike Rider, and Single Track magazines. He always got in touch to tell me about a new feature, and the last I heard from him was an email thanking me for my “kind words and insightful advice”. It’s an email I’ll cherish.
Nils passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on 19th December 2023.
I know his cycling adventures and family campervan trips in the Lakes gave him great joy, so I truly hope that he was - as he hoped and so beautifully described - able to add life to the remainder of his days.
My condolences to his family. May you rest in peace Nils.
The birth of the FIFA computer game
There’s no new episode of Unsung this month while we work behind the scenes to come up with a second series worthy of a Sports Podcast Awards nomination (yep… you read that right, more on that below).
Instead, I’m pointing you in the direction of the consistently excellent Sporting Witness podcast. This episode from Vicky Farncombe harks back to December 1993 when EA Sports released FIFA International Soccer, or as it would come to be known, FIFA 94.
Coder Jan Tian was the lead developer on the game, and despite being the very definition of a true unsung legend, he’s also the man responsible for thousands of teenagers losing sizeable portions of their lives sitting on crumb-riddled, pop-soaked sofas yelling at the TV.
I remember the hours me and my brother whiled away playing the game on the Super Nintendo, disturbed only by the occasional cameo from a disbelieving dad who’d burst in thinking one of us was having some sort of fit. “Do you really have to make that much noise?!” he’d ask, as we’d chuckle at the incredulity on his face.
These days the consoles may have changed and the graphics vastly upgraded, but computer games like FIFA - or the current favourite in our house, Mario Kart - continue to stir the emotions and prompt the sort of involuntary noises that belong behind a cage.
“Do you really have to make that much noise?!” I now bark as my weekend lie-in is ruined. Only to find two children chuckling at the incredulity on my face.
In a turn of events that can be filed under “didn’t see that one coming”, the Unsung podcast has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2024 Sports Podcast Awards.
Rather improbably, we've been pitted against some real titans of the industry, including football legend Ian Wright (2.3m followers), NFL host Colin Cowherd (1.6m), and top-tier broadcasters Simon Jordan (318k) and Kate Abdo (225k).
Meanwhile, our scarcely four-figure following appears largely made up of Russian bots, overly friendly and underly-dressed Korean ladies, and my mother. So while there’s more chance of me winning Olympic weightlifting gold in Paris than pipping those guys to the post, there's something quite appropriate about Unsung being the underdog.
If you enjoyed any of our episodes last year, we'd love your vote (click here). But more importantly, we'd love you to tune in. You can do so here.
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How Did Courtney Dauwalter Get So Damn Fast?
Last summer Courtney Dauwalter made history, becoming the first athlete to win the three biggest races in ultrarunning in the same year: the Hardrock 100, the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, and the Western States Endurance Run.
Dauwalter is not only the best female trail runner in the world, but she often gives the men a good run for their money too. So what’s her secret? Outside's Meaghen Brown found out.
Winter at Wimbledon - Inside the Slam that never sleeps
There's something eerie about deserted sports venues, especially one as famous as Wimbledon. But while all of Middle England descends on SW19 at the height of summer - popping corks, inhaling strawberries, and straining the neck muscles sufficiently to keep up with the grass season’s finest - this is the first time I've seen or read anything about its upkeep for the 50 other weeks of the year.
‘I Feel More Like Myself When I’m Morrissey’: the Bizarre Lives of Tribute Acts
When it comes to sentences I never thought I’d write, here’s one for you. I'm off to see a Taylor Swift tribute act at the end of this month…
And while I spend the next couple of weeks convincing people it's simply for my daughters, (and that I definitely didn't ask my wife to get me a ticket when I found out she'd only bought three) you should read this brilliant piece by Daniel Dylan Wray, on why tribute acts do what they do, and why their work is more popular than ever.
A Mouthful of Petrol: Coming of Age in the World of Banger Racing
This documentary from Jess Kohl is a beautiful portrayal of a touching father-and-son relationship that shines a light on modern-day expectations of masculinity. It's also a great insight into a sporting community on the fringes, which is right up our street. At only half an hour long, it's well worth a watch.
Life Comes At You Fast
If the secret to life is finding what makes you happy, then Defector's Albert Burneko has discovered that it's watching his young kids play football, even though they are soundly beaten every week. There's plenty here that mams and dads (and crap footballers) can relate to, but it does take an emotional turn at the end that might give any parent reading itchy eyes. I loved it.
Among the Fans, Patrick Collins
“The engines change pitch. There is a violent whine, followed by a demented roar as riders and machines scream into the first corner, where the race is effectively won or lost. A shower of shale is thrown up, stinging my face, sticking to my coat, lodging in my hair. Beneath the clamour, I fancy I can hear the sound of mocking laughter. Later, I shall be told with much chuckling that it is ‘a rite of passage’, that you can always tell a newcomer to speedway by the cinders in their hair.”
Such are streaming habits these days that among the few remaining “appointment” TV events is live sport, and I find one of the best things about a new year is scanning the sporting calendar and making mental notes on which events I’m going to tune in to, which I may need a day off to recover from, and which I might even stand an outside chance of attending.
In 2010, Patrick Collins lived the dream and attended pretty much every major sporting event that year. Although the former Mail on Sunday chief sports writer could have secured press box access for each, he instead chose to document his experience among the paying public.
He gets to the Ashes in Australia and the Ryder Cup in Wales, there’s rugby at Twickenham and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, along with some sports from outside the mainstream glare, including the speedway at Eastbourne. It makes for an entertaining yarn, and one in which he’s not afraid to cast a critical eye, either.
Thanks for reading January’s edition of Off-Field. If you know of anyone who might like any of this month’s picks, why not forward them this newsletter or hit the share button below.
If there’s anything you read, listen to, or watch over the next month that you’d like to recommend for February’s newsletter, do let me know via alexisnjames@gmail.com.