FEET in the Clouds A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession by Richard Askwith, published by Aurum Press, price £16.99 (hardback).

For more than 20 years, Bill Smith's Stud Marks on the Summits has been held aloft as the definitive fell running book.

But a successor has emerged in this truly superb book written by Keswick athlete and journalist Richard Askwith a 13-stone southerner with weak ankles who spent the best years of his life smoking and is terrified of heights.

Askwith spends the 2003 season competing in some of the classic fell races on a month by month basis and interviews legends of the sport such as the remarkable Joss Naylor, the combative Billy Bland and the indomitable Kenny Stuart.

He also recalls the great rivalry that existed between Tommy Sedgwick and Fred Reeves in the Seventies and speaks to the great Bill Teasdale, who rose to prominence in the Fifties and won Grasmere the biggest prize in guides racing on no more than 11 occasions.

It is not only fell runners who will be fascinated to read about what it is that makes athletes of the calibre of Naylor and Stuart tick for virtually no reward apart from the enjoyment of competing over some of the country's most extreme terrain.

But this book is not just about the sport's elite competitors but also acknowledges those club athletes who are far from the sharp end of the field, despite devoting hours to training each week in all weathers.

Askwith also has a great deal of respect for those who push themselves to the very threshold of human endurance, particularly after failing on three occasions to complete a Bob Graham Round a non-stop circuit of 42 of the Lake District's highest peaks to be completed in under 24 hours. He manages it on the fourth attempt.

And he also profiles those stalwarts who play a behind-the-scenes role in the sport such as Windermere's Fred Rogerson, who still regularly turns out to give vocal support to runners attempting the Bob Graham.

This book is a portrait of one of the few sports to remain utterly true to its roots and is not purely reflective, with those runners who will become tomorrow's legends Rob Jebb, Ian Holmes and Wendy Dodds heavily featured.

For the fell runner, it is an inspirational as well as an engrossing exploration into one of the last genuinely amateur sports.