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Speed Kings by Andy Bull and Ed Caesar's Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon among winners at 2016 Cross Sports Book Awards

  • Max Mosley, Guillem Balague, Ronda Rousey and David Millar also take prizes
  • Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge worthy winners of Cricket award for Peter Roebuck biography Chasing Shadows


 Andy Bull's Speed Kings and Ed Caesar's Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon were among the outstanding books to be recognised as winners at the 2016 Cross British Sports Book Awards.

The Times Biography of the Year prize went to Guardian journalist Bull, whose Speed Kings (Bantam Press) is the story of the four maverick adventurers who came together from disparate backgrounds to form the United States team who were four-man bobsleigh champions at the 1932 Winter Olympics.

Caesar was named Freshtime New Writer of the Year for Two Hours (Viking), an engaging study of elite marathon runners from around the world and the challenge of covering the classic distance of 26 miles 385 yards in less than two hours.

As in previous years, a public vote on the 10 winners of the book categories will determine which is named the overall Cross Sports Book of the Year for 2016.  To cast your vote, visit www.sportsbookawards.com and complete an online form between now and midnight on 16 June.  Each vote will earn the chance to win £100 worth of book tokens in a draw.

Guillem Balague's life story of the Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (Orion) was a popular winner of the Barclays Football Book of the Year, pipping a field that included past winner Michael Calvin's Living on the Volcano and James Lawton's excellent Forever Boys.

William Finnegan won the Blink Publishing Outstanding Sports Writing award for Barbarian Days (Little, Brown), in which he recounts a life spent chasing waves around the world as a member of the enduring brotherhood of surfers. The book is this year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography.

The Littlehampton Book Services Cricket Book of the Year was won by Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge for Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck (Hardie Grant), in which Australian journalists Lane and Cartledge charted the life of the controversial English cricketer-turned-writer and examined the dramatic circumstances of his death in a fall from a hotel window in Cape Town, where he was being interviewed by police over an allegation of sexual assault.

The Cross Autobiography of the Year award went to the colourful former Formula One boss Max Mosley for his life story Formula One and Beyond (Simon & Schuster), a book that might disappoint some in that it is mainly about motor racing, but which does at least touch on his roots - he is the son of former Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley - and devotes several chapters to the newspaper revelations about his private life that led him first to bring a successful legal action against the News of the World and subsequently to become a campaigner against media intrusion into private lives.

Ronda Rousey, the former Olympic judo medallist who became a world champion at Ultimate Fighting, won the Cross International Autobiography of the Year award for My Fight, Your Fight (Arrow).

The Cycling Book of the Year is The Racer (Yellow Jersey), by David Millar, in which the Scottish former professional cyclist, who wrote about his return from a two-year doping ban in Racing Through the Dark, describes his final year on the circuit before retirement.

The Arbuthnot Latham Rugby Book of the Year is No Borders: Playing Rugby for Ireland (Arena Sport), Tom English's superb history of Irish rugby told through the words of the 115 present and former players he interviewed, a story that describes not only great victories and crushing defeats but the profound impact of politics and religion on Irish sport.

Winner of the Illustrated Book of the Year was Bob Martin for 1/1000th: The Sports Photography of Bob Martin (Vision Sports).

The Publicity Campaign of the Year went to Fiona Murphy from Quercus, who looked after The World of Cycling According to G, by Geraint Thomas.

The awards were announced during a gala dinner at Lord's cricket ground in London, where the proceedings also included some moving words by former Arsenal and Scotland goalkeeper Bob Wilson on behalf of the Cross Sports Book Awards charity partner Willow, the charity Bob and his wife Meg set up in memory of their daughter Anna, who died of cancer aged 31.  Willow helps seriously ill young adults, aged between 16 and 40, enjoy unforgettable experiences by providing Special Days.

Wilson also presented a special award made to veteran football writer Brian Glanville, who was honoured for his Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing after a career that spans an incredible 67 years.  Now 84, Glanville began writing for newspapers at the age of 17 and had his first book published aged 19, while working for the Italian sports daily, Corriere dello Sport.  He spent 33 years as correspondent for the Sunday Times, for whom he still writes regular match reports.

To see who these winners beat to the big prizes, read our post on the full shortlists.

Follow these links to buy any of the winning titles

Autobiography of the Year: Max Mosley: Formula One and Beyond
Biography of the Year: Speed Kings, by Andy Bull
International Autobiography of the Year: My Fight Your Fight, by Ronda Rousey
Football Book of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo: The Biography, by Guillem Hague
Cricket Book of the Year: Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck, by Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge
Rugby Book of the Year: No Borders: Playing Rugby for Ireland, by Tom English
Cycling Book of the Year: The Racer: The Inside Story of Life on the Road, by David Millar
New Writer of the Year: Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon, by Ed Caesar
Outstanding General Sports Writing: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, by William Finnegan
Illustrated Book of the Year: 1/1000th: The Sports Photography of Bob Martin

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