Author: Barney Spender

Barney Spender comes from a long line of journalists and writers, going back to his great grandfather Edward Spender who founded the Western Morning News in Plymouth, England, in 1860, and the poets Stephen and Richard Spender. Graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Medieval English from Trinity College, Dublin, Barney gravitated from the theatre into the world of sports journalism, going on to work for the likes of Reuters, The (London) Times, BBC and Discovery Eurosport. He lived for five years in Athens, Greece and is now resident in France.

The Co-Director on The Road to Sparta

The Road to Sparta is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. The film is predominantly about running, and it will hardly come as a surprise that lots of people out there don’t give a tinker’s cuss about any kind of sport, let alone running. It tires them out. They just don’t want to watch.

On the other hand, the film veers away from being a pure sports documentary by angling the lens onto ancient Greek history, the run that Pheidippides made from Athens to Sparta in 490 BC to try and rustle up reinforcements to take on the mighty Persians. Herodotus documents the run in his Histories so it must be true.

The Co-Director on The Road to Sparta full post

(1517 words, 4 images, estimated 6:04 mins reading time)

Introduction to The Road to Sparta

Four runners. Four stories. One Greek drama.

Sometimes, as any poet will attest, you just have to scratch. You have an idea and it nags at you for hours, days, months, years. You know it is a good idea, but you aren’t sure how to make it happen. You fret that you cannot do justice to this great idea. You worry yourself out of doing anything about it.

And then one day you just settle down and scratch.

Introduction to The Road to Sparta full post

(617 words, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)