Issue 278 | October 19 2012

Grand slam finishMaria Sharapova eyes the perfect ending to her year

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issue 278, october 19 2012

radar

07 Quite simply, the Best In a new book that asks the opinion of former teammates Denis Law and Bobby Charlton 08 Heat up... With Miami Heat’s Champions DVD. Brash, big-time, and better than everyone else

10 ... then cool down We go about as cool as it gets with the high-voltage new snowboarding film Further

o this coming weekFeatures

16 You’ve got to see her Maria Sharapova, that is – talking exclusively about her return to the top of the women’s game 23 Olivier Giroud Arsenal’s main man on settling in at the Emirates, and finding his scoring touch for the Gunners

26 Frankel: the greatest horse The world’s top-rated nag as seen through the eyes of the people who know him best

37 The Real McHoy The living Olympic cycling legend talks Scottish football and his Commonwealth Games ambition

extra time

52 Gadgets We kindly fire off our verdict on the Kindle Fire HD

54 Elena Gomez The latest well-heeled newcomer to the blue side of Manchester is also something of a poet 56 Kit We’re multilayered sorts here at Sport Towers. And now so can you be this winter

60 Entertainment Beasts of the Southern Wild and E.T. keep us company on screen

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| October 19 2012 | 05

o many books about George Best

focus on the booze, birds and big

sideburns, rather than giving due

analysis to his flabbergasting talent. This new

title redresses that balance, chronicling the

man’s football exploits with input from the

very best authorities you could wish for.

It begins with two forewords from

no lesser forwards than Best’s former

Manchester United teammates Sir Bobby

Charlton and Denis Law. Charlton describes

his awe at (and frustration with) Best’s

genius, while Law passionately defends his

close friend’s commitment, pointing out that

the Northern Irishman “could still score 26

goals in a season, which he did as late as

1971-72, while nowhere near fully fit – and

while not living like a monk, to put it mildly”.

There’s further insight from Ryan Giggs,

Paddy Crerand and George Cohen (on trying

to stop him), but the highlight is the many

wonderful photos of Best in his pomp,

contorting his hips as the nearest defender

stares gormlessly in the wrong direction.

Radar p08– Can’t stand the Heat? Pick up their DVD anyway

p08 – Sully sleek Nike running jackets with your sweat

p10 – We welcome the origami kayak into the fold

S

Best of the Best

| October 19 2012 | 07

George Best

by Ivan Ponting

(Simon &

Schuster),

available from

October 25, £25

08 | October 19 2012 |

Radar

or a sport in which the aim is to run

so hard you end up red-faced in a

crumpled mess on the floor, you might

argue it doesn’t much matter what apparel

you go running in – because you’ll still look like

death come the end. But don’t tell designer

Jun Takahashi that.

For the fifth season, runners are invited

to improve their wardrobes with the latest

from Nike x Undercover Gyakusou. Clearly,

looking at two running jackets here, this

Winter 2012 collection harmonises Nike

innovation, function and high design by

tapping into the power union of mind,

body and, er, nature.

Clearly too, we’ve just lifted that straight

from the press release, because we can’t

claim to know much – or, indeed, anything

at all – about high-grade Japanese fashion.

However, what we can say is that any jacket

that makes you look like a running tree is

fine by us. The whole range is almost too

sleek to sully with your sweat – but we

strongly suggest you do.

From £70 to £315, see mrporter.com

rom Don Revie’s Leeds United to

the 1970s Philadelphia Flyers

‘Broad Street Bullies’ era (in which

hockey players were told by their coach to

“take the shortest route to the puck carrier

and arrive in ill humour”), there’s something

memorable about a team that combines

brilliance with an all-pervading air of villainy

that would embarrass even Darth Vader.

Basketball’s Miami Heat are on their way

to becoming such a team. Boasting the ‘big

three’ of LeBron James (left), Dwyane Wade

and Chris Bosh, arrogance hasn’t been in

short supply. It may not make them likeable,

but it doesn’t make them less mesmerising

to watch – as you can see in this new DVD

about their 2012 NBA triumph. The Heat

came from behind to win three straight

playoff series, but it’s the

gravity-defying skills of their

players – particularly Wade

and James – that make this a

must-see for all sports fans.

NBA 2012 Champions: Miami

Heat (Clear Vision), out now

via amazon.co.uk

F

F

The art of running

Hot and nasty

f there‘s one racing tipster

who has the bookies running

for cover, it is the legendary

Pricewise of The Racing Post. His record

is so good that as soon as his tips are

published, the odds on his selected

horses reduce – and they invariably win.

A new book, The Secrets of Pricewise,

examines the service from its inception

in 1987 to the present day. Author

James Milton talks to the three men who

have compiled it: Mark Coton, ‘the man

who changed the face of tipping‘, Mel

Collier, who recorded a profit every year

from 1993 to 2001, and current tipster

Tom ‘the Tominator‘ Segal. It explores

the methods of all

three and how the

brand has evolved.

It will cost you

£12.99, which could

be the best £12.99

you‘ll ever spend.

The Secrets of

Pricewise is out now

(Racing Post Books)

A wise purchase I

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Radar

rafted almost entirely from one

piece of foldable corrugated

plastic, the Oru is apparently the

world’s first origami kayak (certainly no

others spring to our mind). It measures

up to 12 feet and can carry up to 260lb in

weight – yet it weighs just 25lb itself and

folds neatly down to the size of a suitcase

(see below) for ease of transportation.

As if a kayak you can carry on to a plane

as hand luggage wasn’t impressive enough,

we’re also told it takes just five minutes to

construct. That’s less time than it takes us

to construct a paper aeroplane. Amazing.

Discover more at orukayak.com

here’s something gripping about

the best snowboarding films. Maybe

it’s the combination of the most

stunning landscapes you’ll see outside of a

David Attenborough boxset with challenges

that would cause even Felix ‘freefall from

space’ Baumgartner to soil his astropants.

One of the most ambitious films ever was

2010’s Deeper, featuring the man who’s

been voted Big Mountain Rider of the Year

by Snowboard Magazine nine times: Jeremy

Jones. This year sees Jones and his fellow

boarders return in a follow-up, Further, set

in remote, unspoiled locations in Alaska, the

Japanese Alps, Svalbard and Austria.

As heart-stopping as it is watching them

take off down a

near-vertical drop

of sheer, open snow,

it’s equally intriguing

watching their

progress on the way

up (on foot, as no

helicopters were

used for filming).

Winter sports at

their most intense.

C

T

Carry-on kayak

Coming down the mountain

Further makes its UK big screen debut at the London Freeze Festival on October 26 (relentlessfreeze.com). The DVD is released on November 12

SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE © 2011 Highbridge Production Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2012 Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Selected stores and availability. Also available online.

£9.99

12 | October 19 2012 |

Radar Editor’s letter

Editor-in-chief

Simon Caney

@simoncaney

Sport magazine

Part of UTV Media plc

18 Hatfields, London SE1 8DJ

Telephone: 020 7959 7800

Fax: 020 7959 7942

Email: firstname.lastname@

sport-magazine.co.uk

Editorial

Editor-in-chief: Simon Caney (7951)

Deputy editor: Tony Hodson (7954)

Associate editor: Nick Harper (7897)

Art editor: John Mahood (7860)

Deputy art editor: William Jack (7861)

Digital designer: Chris Firth (7624)

Subeditor: Graham Willgoss (7431)

Senior writers: Sarah Shephard (7958),

Alex Reid (7915)

Staff writers: Mark Coughlan (7901),

Amit Katwala (7914)

Picture editor: Julian Wait (7961)

Production manager: Tara Dixon (7963)

Contributors: Martin Barry, Martin Potter,

Simon Knights

Commercial

Agency Sales Director: Iain Duffy (7991)

Business Director: Kevin O’Byrne (7832)

Advertising Manager: Steve Hare (7930)

New Business Sales Executive:

Hayley Robertson (7904)

Distribution Manager: Sian George (7852)

Distribution Assistant: Makrum Dudgeon

Head of Online: Matt Davis (7825)

Head of Communications:

Laura Wootton (7913)

Managing Director: Adam Bullock

PA to Managing Director:

Sophia Koulle (7826)

Colour reproduction: Rival Colour Ltd

Printed by: Wyndeham Group Ltd

© UTV Media plc 2012

UTV Media plc takes no responsibility for

the content of advertisements placed in

Sport magazine

£1 where sold

Hearty thanks this week to:

Harry Maidment, Joe Whitbread,

Katrine Pearson, Amy Grantham and

HP for the very tasty bacon rolls

Don’t forget: Help keep public transport clean and tidy for everyone by taking your copy of Sport away with you when you leave the bus or train.

LAUNCH OFTHE YEAR

2008

Total Average Distribution: 305,676 Jan-Jun 2012

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@sportmaguk

facebook.com/sportmagazine

F elix Baumgartner has a screw loose, that much is obvious. Throwing one’s self out of a balloon 24 miles in the air is not the action of a rational man.

I suspect he’s probably murder to live

with, too. Who of us would put our families

through that sort of terror? BASE jumping

from the statue of Christ the Redeemer

is bad enough; what he did last week is

another thing altogether.

Yet I have nothing but awe for Felix and

his fellow lunatics – those brave, bonkers

men and women who push the human

body further than it has ever been pushed.

They show the rest of us what is possible,

even if we’re not exactly minded to follow

suit. They are the modern-day explorers.

Briton Sir Ranulph Fiennes is another

who is, frankly, a bit mad. The 68-year-

old’s next wheeze, starting in March, will

see him venture for six months across

Antarctica in a mission he once described

as “impossible“. The reason he’s keen

to do it now is that he had a whiff that

another exploration party, from Norway,

was considering doing it. The idea that

they might set the record first was too

much to bear for this particular OAP

– who, make no mistake, will now put his

life on the line in the name of exploration.

Sir Ranulph has already lost several

fingers because of frostbite, and suffered

a heart attack in 2003. He should know

better by now, but it’s hard to imagine

that he won’t be doing this sort of crazy

escapade until the day he dies.

And he’s not alone: there are hundreds

more people out there, pushing their

bodies to ridiculous extremes in all kinds

of conditions – that would terrify most of

us – just because they can.

Hats off to them: they might be mad,

but they’re utterly inspiring too.

Terrific to see Heather Watson winning a WTA event in Japan at the weekend. Along with Laura Robson, she represents a future for women’s tennis in this country – although how bright it is remains to be seen. Hopefully we will not expect too much too soon – the last Brit to win on tour was Sara Gomer, in 1988. Sadly it never got any better than that...

There’s not much to add to the

depressing Lance Armstrong story.

Previously I had been critical of USADA,

who I mistakenly thought were targeting

Armstrong because of who he was,

rather than what he had done. It turns

out, in fact, that USADA – and everyone

who has testified in this sorry tale –

deserve every ounce of credit. We have

known for a long time that cycling was

previously a filthy sport, riddled with

cheats, but Armstrong was still a hero

to millions of people. Not any more.

Hail the superheroesWe might not want to copy Felix Baumgartner and his ilk, but we‘re still inspired by them

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Sir Ranulph Fiennes: ‘You just must not think about getting old...

you might as well go for it’

Reader comments of the week

Despite my dislike for

football I’m very happy for

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

on his #England goal after

reading the interview in

@sportmaguk

@LaurenETurner1

Twitter

Great interview with

@Alex_OxChambo in

@Sportmaguk today.

Speaks well and honestly.

Smart/sensible young

bloke. Read if you can.

@mattlittlechild

Twitter

Ha! @simoncaney’s

testicle chat in today’s

@sportmaguk led to me

choking this morning. NOT

on a testicle I might add.

@markintime

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Great picture and

loving the comment in

@sportmaguk re:

Tarragona Castells

Competition in #Spain.

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@Sportmaguk is porn for

girls who like rugby.

A @DannyCipriani87

interview one week, and a

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Morgan Parra today.

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Free iPad app available on Newsstand

Cover of the Year

14 | October 19 2012 |

What goes upWhen young boys dream of what their future

might bring, many of them visualise scoring

the winner in a World Cup final or completing a

nine-dart finish at the Lakeside Country Club.

But not Felix Baumgartner. The mad Austrian

dreamed of one day floating into the stratosphere

in a space pod, opening the door and hurtling

to earth screaming: “Aggggggghh!!” Here,

we see him high above Roswell, New Mexico,

avoiding the UFOs and asking himself why.Ja

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| 15

Maria Sharapova

16 |

| October 19 2012 | 17

Maria Sharapova won

more than a trophy

at Roland Garros this

summer – she won her

career back. Ahead

of the season-ending

WTA Championships in

Istanbul next week, the

Russian tells Sport why

her fourth Grand Slam

title was probably her

most important yet

No matter how tough it was, no matter how many people didn’t believe in me, I didn’t care and I didn’t listen.

“I could have said: ’I don’t need this.’ I have

money, fame, victories. I have Grand Slams.

“But when your love for something is bigger

than all those things, you continue to get up in

the morning when it’s freezing outside, when

you know that it can be the most difficult day.

"You can achieve great things when you

don’t listen to all those things.”

So went Maria Sharapova’s victory speech

after she lifted the French Open trophy in

June, having overwhelmed the Italian Sara

Errani to triumph in straight sets.

That victory gave her the illustrious career

slam of having won all four Grand Slam titles

– a feat only nine other women had previously

achieved. Being in the final also took her

back to world number one for the first time

in nearly four years. But, perhaps most

significantly, the Roland Garros crown came

after Sharapova’s four-year struggle with

injury, when many questioned whether the

Russian would ever return to the top.

It was a career-threatening torn rotator

cuff in 2008 that kept her out for 10 months

and sent her ranking plummeting to 126th in

the world. She was not to be beaten, though,

returning to the sport in the summer of 2009

to begin the long climb back towards the top.

She finally reached the summit this

summer – and now, with the WTA Tour

Championships in Istanbul getting under way

on Tuesday, Sharapova has the chance to

finish the year with what would be another

milestone in her comeback. You have to go all

the way back to 2004 for the last time she won

the prestigious end-of-season tournament –

the same year she first became a Grand Slam

champion, becoming the 17-year-old darling

of Wimbledon with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-4

defeat of Serena Williams. >

18 | October 19 2012 |

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She is 25 now, and one of the biggest

names in women’s tennis – and indeed women’s

sport. But the joys of winning never get

old – especially when you’ve had to face the

possibility they might be out of reach forever.

You said winning the French Open this

year was the “most unique moment of your

career”. What did you mean by that?

“Winning that Grand Slam as my first one

after my injury – on a surface not many

people expected me to do well on – was

really meaningful. You put so much work in

on the practice court and in the gym, but you

never quite know when that will pay off. And

when you have experienced those incredible

moments of winning Grand Slams before, you

really want to feel that emotion – that moment

of winning a matchpoint – again. I was really

happy it happened in Paris. I couldn’t have

asked for a better moment for it.”

Did spending all that time away from the

sport change your attitude towards it?

“After the injury I felt like I was starting

over again in my career. In a way, I was

appreciating what I’d been given and was

just grateful to have the opportunity to play

tennis again on a daily basis. But I enjoyed

the hard work to get back – I never looked

at it as a negative, no matter how tough it

was. You appreciate it so much more when

something’s taken away from you a bit.”

There’s just the WTA Championships in

Istanbul left this season. At the end of a long

year, would you really rather be on a beach?

“When you start the year, you have the four

majors and you think: ’Oh, the champs are

all the way at the end of the season.’ But

the goal is always to be one of those eight

girls who qualify, because it means you’ve

had a really consistent year. I remember

qualifying for it for the first time in 2004,

and it felt like a bonus because usually the

season had finished so early. I still feel

like this tournament is a bonus for your

accomplishments during the year.”

It’s the sixth time you’ve qualified. Does your

experience give you an advantage?

“I think it’s the experience that I have of not

playing so many tournaments during the year.

A lot of girls usually play a few tournaments in

the lead-up to a big one like that, but a lot of

my success has come when I’ve had a limited

schedule. It gives me a chance to let my body

rest and to practise well and be healthy – so

that when I go out and compete, even though I

might feel rusty for a few games, in the longer

stretch of the tournament I feel better.”

The tournament has been held all over

the world, from Madrid to Doha and now

Istanbul. Where would you like to see it?

“I would actually love to see it go to Brazil.

I was there once, and it’s somewhere we

Maria Sharapova

From Russia with 40-Love: Sharapova sinks to her knees after completing her career slam at Roland Garros (top); and has a quiet moment with the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in the locker room

“I was just grateful to be able to play tennis again”

haven’t seen too much tennis, but I know

there’s so much passion for sport there.

Obviously football’s their number one thing,

but as far as tennis is concerned I get so

much fan mail from there, and I’m sure

other players do too. It seems like the sport

is really followed in Brazil, so I really hope it

goes there.”

The next Olympics will be there. Are you

planning to be in Rio, to upgrade the silver

medal you won in London this summer?

“It’s tough to say – it’s so far down the line.

I usually don’t try to plan too much ahead.

I was so looking forward to the Beijing

Olympics in 2008, but just a few months >

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

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DOCKERS® ALPHA KHAKI AVAILABLE AT ALL GOOD STORES NATIONWIDE.

MORE INFO AT GB.DOCKERS.COM

20 | October 19 2012 |

before that is when I got my shoulder injury.

So that was a real bummer. I try not to look at

things that far in advance, but my experience

this year was so special that of course I would

love to get there – and experience having that

chance again.”

You became the first female Russian athlete

to have the honour of carrying the flag

during the opening ceremony in London.

When did you find out you’d been chosen?

“It was crazy; I received a text message

from the Russian Olympic Committee in the

middle of the French Open, asking me if it was

something I’d be interested in doing. [Laughs]

I was half asleep and just honestly I couldn’t Els

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Maria Sharapova

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

believe that was even being asked in question

form. The Olympics was such a big part of

our culture in Russia, so I grew up hoping

that one day I could represent the sport of

tennis – because it wasn’t very big when I was

watching it in the Olympics when I was young.

But the visibility of tennis in Russia and the

amount of facilities and coaches we have has

grown so much - it’s a solid sport there now.

So for me to have that honour was incredible.”

Were you nervous?

“It was such a long walk from the athletes’

village to the stadium, with the whole team

and all the other countries, that once you got

there it felt like the walk around the track

was so much shorter than it actually was.

I was just trying to focus on making sure

the flag was waving the right way and

holding it right...”

Tennis aside, food is another passion.

“I know, it’s really pathetic. Every time I do

an entry on my website or write a little blog,

I always mention food. I think my fans must

think I have a problem… I kind of do [laughs].

But one of the greatest things about travelling

is experiencing the different flavours and

cultures. And, in Russia, sitting down at the

table to eat as a family was such a big part of

our lives – eating your grandma’s cooking and

baking with the family. I’ve missed it since

I moved to the US. I’m always talking about

food and I try to cook, but I don’t do it as much

as I would like to because from start to finish

it’s such a big process. So on training days

it’s pretty tough to cook, but on my off days

I always do.”

If someone was to put together the perfect

menu for you, what would be on it?

“I love the Russian soup, borscht, and then

we have this salad which is originally French,

called Olivier – but I think the Russians took

over it and now they call it the Russian

salad. And we have these little dumplings

called pelmenis, which are really good – my

grandmother makes them really well. Then for

dessert I’d want Russian honey cake called

medovnik, which is really yummy.”

And now you've even gone and launched your

own range of sweets...

“When I came to the US as a kid and I saw

these gummy bears and gummy type candy, it

was so different to anything I’d ever tried or

seen in Russia. I just fell in love with it.

A couple of years ago, the name Sugarpova

came about, and I put the two together.

I really wanted to start my own business,

and I thought this would be fun, young and

fresh. And everybody loves candy, right?”

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

British Eurosport HD will broadcast the WTA

Championships exclusively live, October 23-28.

Coverage is also available online and on mobile

via the Eurosport Player: eurosportplayer.co.uk

“I was so looking forward to Beijing, but then I got my shoulder injury. That was a real bummer”

Sweet success: Sharapova on her way to silver at Wimbledon in the Olympics this summer (above); and (left), launching her own Sugarpova ‘premium candy’

From Tuesday

WTA Championships | British

Eurosport 1 HD 2.45pm

| October 19 2012 | 23

Olivier Giroud

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Aux, Champs-Elysees, la la la...”

Olivier Giroud is singing. He‘s not

bad, though the lyrics lack a certain

je ne sais quoi, if you will. The same

could be said of the song Arsenal fans have

adopted for their new striker – it‘s mostly

comprised of “na na naaaas“, followed by

“Giroooouuud”, to the tune of The Beatles‘

Hey Jude.

The Gooners crowd belted it out at Upton

Park a fortnight ago when, after 303 minutes

of league football in an Arsenal shirt, the

26-year-old scored his first Premier League

goal, cancelling out Mohamed Diame‘s

wondrous opening strike for West Ham.

It‘s a few days later when Sport meets

Giroud in Paris, where he‘s preparing

for France‘s World Cup qualifying game

against Spain. But the post-match high is

still written all over the Frenchman‘s finely

chiselled face, as he recalls his celebratory

sprint over to teammate Lukas Podolski.

“I was so happy, I ran to Lukas and said:

‘Come my friend, I want to kiss you.‘” The

German, perhaps unsurprisingly, held

Giroud at arm‘s length. “I am too big,” >

GoAl huntEr

The new Arsenal striker has finally opened his Premier League account, something he tells Sport was never really in doubt...

24 | October 19 2012 |

Olivier Giroud

Coming good: Giroud opens his Premier League account for the Gunners

he laughs. “But it was a wonderful moment

– I want to live more moments like this.” By

which Giroud means not sleepless nights for

Podolski, but that he wants to add to his goal

tally for Arsenal – which currently numbers

two, being that he also scored in the Gunners‘

6-1 mauling of Coventry in the League Cup last

month. Giroud has some way to go to match

his record of 21 goals in the French league

last season, however – a figure that made

him joint-top scorer and helped his team,

Montpellier, win their first ever Ligue 1 title.

Strength of characterIt was against this impressive backdrop that

Giroud arrived in north London in August,

evidently as a replacement for wantaway

striker Robin van Persie. When that all-

important first goal took its time to arrive,

though, there were fears that Arsene

Wenger‘s £12m outlay was misplaced.

“I kept trust and confidence about my quality

and my talent,” says Giroud. “Sometimes,

when you‘re a striker, you have difficulty in

scoring. But you have to ignore the doubts and

just concentrate on your work on the pitch.

I knew the goal would come, so I persevered.”

It perhaps takes such strength of

character to leave behind a title-winning

team for one with a trophy cabinet that has –

in case you had forgotten – been gathering

dust since the 2005 FA Cup final.

“It didn‘t worry me,” says Giroud, of the

choice he made. “Since I was very young, I

dreamed of playing for Arsenal because a lot

of French guys have succeeded there and

it‘s a a big club. Every year they play in the

Champions League, and that was important

in my decision. But also, I believe in this team

and this squad. And I think we have a great

chance to win something this year.”

Giroud‘s dreams of playing in England

date back to the days when, as an aspiring

footballer, he spent every single weekend

watching the likes of Eric Cantona take what

the Premier League‘s latest Gallic import

refers to as the “French philosophy of

football“ into the top flight.

“I loved to watch him play, both for his

charisma and his talent,“ says Giroud.

“Thierry Henry, too, was great to watch.”

When he wasn‘t watching football, Giroud

was trying to emulate his heroes on the

streets of Froges in southeast France, where

he was raised. “I was born into a football

family,” he explains. “My father played a little

bit, but his level is bad. [Laughs] And one of

my two brothers played in the young national

team with Titi [Thierry] Henry. So I always had

a ball at my feet, trying to score goals.”

“I think I‘m a complete striker now,” he

continues, when asked to name his best

qualities. “I have a good technical left foot,

my heading game is good, I can keep the ball,

I‘m strong and I can assist as well as score.”

Indeed, Giroud currently tops Arsenal‘s

assists charts – a sign that he‘s settled

well at his new club.

Sing when you’re winningIt has helped that Laurent Koscielny was

already a friend from Giroud‘s time on loan

at Ligue 2 club Tours, and he admits the

centre back was influential in his decision to

join Arsenal: “He told me about the club, the

structure and the staff – how everything is

made so the player can focus on the game.”

Koscielny also gave his fellow Frenchman

a heads-up about what awaited him as an

initiation task at the Emirates. “Ah yes, I

had to sing a song,” grins Giroud. “A French

song...” Cue the singing: “Aux Champs-

Elysees... it‘s by Joe Dassin, you

know?” His fellow new arrivals had

to follow suit, with Podolski singing

a German ditty and Santi Cazorla

opting for the ever popular

Macarena – dance moves

included, according to Giroud.

And on that bombshell, he

stands and shakes us warmly

by the hand before departing

to join up with his French teammates.

With Wenger‘s new goal hunter finally

off the mark in the league, Arsenal fans

will hope he returns hungry to continue

what looks like another Gallic success

story in north London.

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

Olivier Giroud wears the PUMA

evoSPEED iFG football boot.

See puma.com

26 | October 19 2012 |

The Greatest RacehorseS

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| 27Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

All good things must come to an end, they

say. And so, two years and two months

after we first saw him on a racecourse,

Frankel is to run his last race. Tomorrow’s

QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot is the most valuable

race over its 10-furlong distance in Europe, with

a staggering total purse of £1.3m, but such is the

legend of its most notable entrant that few will

even notice the detail. For this race is all about the

four-year-old bay horse with the large white star on

his face and four white feet; the colt who has been

trained by the iconic Sir Henry Cecil to win all 13 of

his races to date; the powerhouse whose Timeform

rating of 147 marks him out as the highest-rated

horse in the 64-year history of that much-respected

organisation. Put simply, tomorrow is all about the

horse many astute judges are calling the greatest

the sport has ever seen.

Not-so-humble beginningsFrankel is no rags-to-riches story. His tale begins

early in 2007, when Prince Khalid Abdullah – a member

of the Saudi royal family and one of the leading figures

in the world of thoroughbred horse racing – sent one

of his broodmares, Kind, to visit the former Derby

winner Galileo. The Prince will have paid handsomely

for the privilege; the website for Coolmore Stud

in Ireland, where Galileo currently stands, reveals

that his stud fee for 2012 is listed as ’private’ – this

suggests it is over and above £100,000 per cover.

“The plan was that Galileo had developed into one

of the best stallions in the world, if not the best,“

recalls Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Prince

Khalid. “And you want your best mares to go to the

best stallions.“

Quite, although Kind had proven best over the sprint

distance of six furlongs while Galileo was a stoutly

bred horse who had excelled over twice that distance

– there was to be no certainty about what kind of

racehorse their union would produce, although the

early signs were encouraging.

“By about October 2009, we had him rated as our

best yearling,“ continues Grimthorpe. “That doesn’t

necessarily mean anything, of course – we’ve had

some so-called best yearlings who are still waiting to

win a race. But by the time he we went into Henry’s

[yard] in early January 2010, we thought he was

pretty smart. We had a good idea he was going

to be something interesting, but it’s only when you

get them to the racecourse that you really find out

how interesting.“

Out of the ordinaryThe man in charge of deciding when that would be was

one of the most successful, charismatic and popular

men in the sport: trainer Sir Henry Cecil. “He used

to be very precocious, strong and free,“ Sir Henry

remembers in an interview that takes place in his

study, commemorative plates of some of his many

classic wins littering his coffee table like ashtrays.

“It took us about a year and a half to get him to

relax properly, but those horses that pull very hard

are usually no good; they do all their best work at

the beginning of a race and not at the end. They run

themselves into the ground, you know?

“But I realised he was out of the ordinary about

halfway through that year – there’s something very

different about him. He has a real presence about

him... he’s not a normal horse; he has this amazing

stride and finds everything so easy. I don’t like the

word ’freak’, but he is very out of the ordinary.“

Cecil is a trainer renowned for his instinct and

patience, a man who dislikes rushing his two-year-

old juveniles into action, less still waxing lyrical about

them before they have even run – but in March 2010,

five months before Frankel made his racecourse

debut at Newmarket, he let his guard slip.

“We had taken Twice Over [another Cecil horse

owned by Abdullah] to run in the Dubai World Cup,“

reveals Mick McGowan, the travelling head lad who will

drive Frankel to Ascot this evening before checking on

him every two hours throughout the night. >

Tomorrow, the world’s most famous racehorse defends his unbeaten record for the last time. As we prepare to bid farewell to Frankel, Sport looks back on a glittering career through the eyes of those who know him best

The Greatest

28 | October 19 2012 |

Frankel

“I was walking Twice Over round and I heard the boss

say to Mr Grimthorpe: ’We could have a special two-

year-old here, a Kind colt.’ The boss likes to give his

two-year-olds plenty of time, so for him to be saying

that meant he must have been something special.“

The real sensationThe boss, as most of Cecil’s employees affectionately

call him, was right. Despite his refusal to settle under

the tender handling of jockey Tom Queally, Frankel

racked up four wins from four as a two-year-old –

the last of which, in the Dewhurst Stakes, established

him as the best two-year-old racehorse in Europe.

“He didn’t settle at all in the Dewhurst but still won

it with authority,“ Queally says. “That’s the sign of a

great horse, when things can go wrong but he still

stamps his ability on the field. He was very, very fiery

in a few of his races, even as a three-year-old, but

pure class always got him through.“

He was pretty fiery back at his trainer’s sprawling

yard at Warren Place, Newmarket, too. After that

victory in the Dewhurst, Cecil tried to move Frankel

from his original box near the road to a more spacious

version in a row of boxes

reserved for the best

horses in the yard –

known as Millionaires’

Row. The trainer’s star

horse, it turns out, was having none of it.

“He just didn’t like it at all," reveals Sandeep

Gauravaram, who as Frankel’s groom has spent more

time with him than anyone else in the yard. “It was

twice as big as his old box, but he wouldn’t eat and

given any chance at all would try to get out. He only

stayed there a day, but then two days later we tried

to move him into the Dip [another quieter part of the

yard], and he stayed there for about 10 minutes. He

just didn’t want to move out of his box; there is a lot

happening around it, but he likes all the action. He’s

a nosy kind of a guy, you know? All he wants to do is

look at what the other horses are doing around him.“

Something Frankel was unable to do in what

remains for many the definitive performance of

his career: his staggering six-length win in the

2000 Guineas at Newmarket, in which he absolutely

spreadeagled his field in a manner never before

seen over the Rowley Mile (above). He led from soon

after the start, and never saw another horse.

“The 2000 Guineas was the real sensation,“ says

the veteran broadcaster and journalist Brough Scott.

“It was an altogether freakish thing to do – but once a

horse has done something extraordinary like that, you

just hope he can do it again, because history relates

it is very hard to do so. Even more so for an equine

athlete, who doesn’t really know what’s happening.“

The special oneTell that to the team at Warren Place. “I think he does

know how special he is,“ says Shane Fetherstonhaugh,

the 35-year-old Dubliner who rides Frankel in his work

every day, and who Cecil credits for bringing about

the relaxation that has seen Frankel settle better –

and, almost unbelievably, improve still more – as a

four-year-old. “He knows he’s different, what with

so many people coming to photograph him every day;

he must know they’re there to see him.“

Everyone you meet in and around Warren Place

has their own story about a horse whose personality

is as winning as his talent. Head lass Dee Deacon,

who arrives at the stables to feed the horses at

4.15am every morning – visiting her beloved Frankel

first, naturally – reveals him to have the greatest

appetite of any horse under Cecil’s care; while farrier

Stephen Kielt proudly states that there is no horse in

the yard with bigger feet. “He’s an intelligent horse

who knows all the people around him, so he always

feels comfortable,“ adds Kielt. “He’s never had a bad

experience and he loves his racing – but why wouldn’t

he, when he wins so easily all the time?“ >

“Frankel’s win in the 2000 Guineas was altogether freakish”

The Greatest Racehorse

Trainer Henry Cecil with Frankel’s owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah: ‘A gentle man and a great friend’

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30 | October 19 2012 |

The Greatest Racehorse

Never has that been more the case than in 2012,

when Frankel has won four races by a combined

distance of 29 lengths. His most recent victory, in

a race sponsored by his owner at York, was his first

run at the extended distance of 10 furlongs; there had

been some doubt over the ability of such a fast horse

to stay as far, but his jockey was never concerned.

“It’s like you’re on air, you know?“ says Queally.

“He just cruises, and does everything so easily. It’s

amazing; and that run at York was the nicest ride he

has ever given me. I always had the belief that he could

step up in distance – and even then I couldn’t pull him

up once we’d finished. He just has this will to win and

gives you everything. You can’t teach that.“

History horseFrankel’s win in the Juddmonte Stakes prompted

Timeform, which has been providing equine ratings

since 1948, to raise Queally’s mount to a mark of 147

– the highest in its history. But where do people within

the sport stand on the matter: is he, as some have

suggested, the greatest racehorse we’ve seen?

“Who’s the best footballer ever?“ asks Brough

Scott, identifying the inevitable problem with

comparing across generations. “The question

is rather how they compare against their

contemporaries – and this horse gives his

contemporaries more of a beating than any

horse ever has before.“

Champion jockey elect Richard Hughes, who rode

seven winners in a day at Windsor earlier this week,

has seen the back end of Frankel in numerous races.

“I’ve ridden against some great horses in my time, but

he is by far the best,“ he says without hesitation. “He’s

a brilliant athlete who is just getting better; and as a

jockey I don’t go out there trying to work out how to

beat him, because you just can’t. If you sit behind him,

you can’t catch him; but if you take him on, you die.“

But what of the man who knows him best?

“Whenever I’m asked this question, I say that I don’t

even know whether he’s the best I’ve trained,“ says

Cecil. “I’ve had lots of champions, all of whom have

been very good to me, and they don’t deserve to be

compared. But I think it would be wrong to say he isn’t

the best horse there’s

ever been; I think that

would be very wrong,

unkind and unfair to

say he’s not the best.

Because he could be...“

For those who don’t know racing, Cecil’s typically

gentle and sympathetic handling of this combustible

champion racehorse has coincided with his own

raging battle against cancer. He was too ill to attend

Frankel’s Sussex Stakes win at Goodwood in August,

returning only with the help of a stick to watch him

romp home at York later that month. When we meet

him, a month before Champions Day, the combined

effects of his illness and the aggressive chemotherapy

with which he is fighting it have taken their toll; Cecil is

gaunt, his voice reduced to a whisper. But, with wife

Jane – the true power at Warren Place, her husband

insists – never far from his side, his eyes retain

the fire and spark that have so charmed the racing

fraternity for the past 40 years and more. And they

burn brightest when he’s talking about Frankel.

“I’ve always been a winner,“ he reflects. “I’ve had

my bad times, whether they be personal, financial, no

horses or bad years, but I don’t like being an also-ran.

I’m frightened of death and I love life – but I think

Frankel has definitely helped keep me going. You’ve

just got to be there for him, you know? I had to be

there for Frankel.“

Tony Hodson @tonyhodson1

Into the shadows: Frankel’s time in the racing limelight

is set to end on Saturday, but his legend will live on

£100,000When Frankel is retired to stud, it is likely that his stud fee will sit at around £100,000 per cover. With 120 mares expected to visit in his first

year as a stallion, that adds up to £12m in earnings – dwarfing the near £3m he will have won during his three-year racing career

SATURDAY

QIPCO British Champions Day

Ascot | BBC One, Racing UK &

At The Races 1.30pm

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NFL

21The quarterback behind the longest

unbroken NFL winning run is in London

next weekend, as Tom Brady leads his

New England Patriots at Wembley. However, while

the Patriots 21-game streak from October 2003

to October 2004 is a record, the team later came

agonisingly close to one-season perfection. The

2007-08 season saw the Patriots go 18-0: a sole

triumph away from becoming the first NFL team

to have a flawless 19-0 season. However, in Super

Bowl XLII, the New York Giants produced an aptly

Brobdingnagian upset in beating the Patriots 17-14.

| October 19 2012 | 33

Unbeaten streaks

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UNBEATABLEAs Frankel goes for a 14th win from 14 races, we look at the most astonishing undefeated runs in sporting history

Tennis

74

Martina Navratilova had a decent 1984:

from February to December, she went

on a record-breaking 74-match winning

streak, encompassing 13 successive tournament

triumphs (including the French Open, Wimbledon

and the US Open), finally losing in the semi finals of

the Australian Open to Helena Suková. Proving she

produces more notable streaks than an Essex tanning

salon, Navratilova also won 109 straight doubles

matches with Pam Shriver during the same era.

Squash

555Simply put, Jahangir Khan

is the proud owner of the

longest winning streak ever

in professional sport. The squash champion from

Pakistan won 555 consecutive matches from 1981

until the 1986 World Open final, when Kiwi Ross

Norman finally ended his jaw-dropping run. “One day,

Jahangir will be slightly off his game – and I will get

him,” Norman had prophesied, although we’re not

sure when he gave this quote. If it was, say, six weeks

into Khan’s five-year, eight-month unbeaten run, then

we’re not overly impressed, Norm. >

Athletics

122

The great 400m hurdler Edwin

Moses didn’t just fly past his rivals

– he raced off with an athletics

record that’s unlikely to ever be matched. For a period

of nine years, nine months and nine days from 1977

to 1987, Moses won an astounding 122 consecutive

races. He also claimed Olympic gold medals in 1976

and 1984, but not in 1980 (the US boycott of the

Moscow Olympics meant he wasn’t able to compete).

We’re going to put it out there: he’d have won that race.

Boxing

49

The longest unbeaten run in boxing

is Welsh flyweight Jimmy ’The Mighty

Atom’ Wilde, with an epic 103 bouts

without loss. One man stands above them all, however

– Rocky Marciano made it to 49-0 between 1948 and

1955, then hung up his gloves. The American may not

have fought in the toughest era – there was no Joe

Frazier, George Foreman or Ivan Drago to test the

real Rocky’s skills – but he’s the only heavyweight

champ to have retired with an unblemished pro record.

Cricket

29Aw look, fair dinkum to Australia, who

won 16 Test matches in a row (twice!)

under Steve Waugh’s steely leadership

– but the most eye-opening run that cricket has ever

seen belongs to the West Indies. King Viv Richards and

co didn’t lose a Test series for a decade and a half –

that’s 29 in succession – from 1980 to 1995.

Unbeaten streaks

Golf

11

Tiger Woods comes second [insert your

own lewd gag here] in the list of PGA

Tour winning streaks. His run of seven

tournaments from 2006 to 2007 is mighty fine,

but he’s got nothing on Byron Nelson and his natty

plus fours. In 1945, Nelson claimed a total of 18

tournaments, including 11 PGA Tour wins in a row.

Some say that World War II had weakened the men’s

golf field. However, golfing greats Sam Snead and Ben

Hogan both played regularly back in ’45, so Nelson was

beating more than just Geoffrey Boycott’s grandma

teeing off with her stick of rhubarb.

Paralympian

470 Watch out, Jahangir Khan, your

record of 555 successive wins

is under threat. For 31-year-old

Dutch wheelchair tennis star Esther Vergeer won

her 470th consecutive match – and counting – this

September. Vergeer’s amazing run began in 2003

and continues to this day, taking in 43 Grand Slam

titles (singles and doubles) and seven Paralympic

gold medals. If you see old Jahangir sabotaging a

wheelchair when Vergeer gets up to 554 wins,

you’ll know exactly what he’s up to.

Rugby Union

18

The All Blacks and South Africa went

17 Test matches unbeaten in the 1960s

and 1990s respectively, but they have

both been usurped by an unlikely international rival:

Lithuania. The Baltic nation’s 18-match unbeaten

run from 2006 to 2010 came by way of beating

powerhouses of rugby such as Latvia, Holland and

Israel, before they were eventually halted by Ukraine.

The current New Zealand team featuring Dan Carter

(below, on the far right) are, however, on a run of 16

without loss – so Lithuania’s proud record could be

overtaken before the year is out.

Snooker

90

One of two old rivals owns the

longest unbeaten streak in men’s

cue-stroking. It’s either Stephen

Hendry, with 36 consecutive match victories in ranking

tournaments, or Ronnie O’Sullivan’s run of 38, but with

some of those wins coming in qualifying competitions.

It’s a tough call, so let’s instead honour Dudley’s

Reanne Evans and her astonishing 90-game winning

streak on the women’s snooker circuit.

Darts

44 Charting an unbroken run of darting

wins is tricky as there are so many

minor ’arrers’ tournaments each year,

but there’s no doubt who has the longest winning

streak in World Championship matches. The answer

may surprise you. Or, in fact, it won’t: yes, it’s Phil

Taylor, a man who plays darts better than anyone has

done anything, ever. Over eight years and 44 ties,

from 1995 to 2003, ’The Power’ won 44 PDC World

Championship matches in a row. We’re not shocked

at that – just surprised that John Part brought the run

to an end at all in the 2003 final.

Football

108 Arsenal’s run of 49 league

games unbeaten – taking in their

’Invincibles’ season of 2003-04 –

is some achievement, but ASEC Mimosas did better.

Despite being named after an effeminate cocktail,

the Ivory Coast team went 108 league games without

losing, from 1989 to 1994. Of course, even this mighty

run can’t compete with Roy Race’s Melchester

Rovers, who allegedly went 13 years without

a loss. But our sources tell us that was wholly

fictional, so we are forced to exclude them.

Olympian

6 The greatest Olympic swordsman ever

(no, not ladies‘ man Ryan Lochte), Aladár

Gerevich pips even Sir Steve Redgrave for

Olympic titles. The Hungarian won six successive gold

medals in the team sabre event from 1932 to 1960.

Remarkably, it could have been up to eight if World

War II hadn’t prevented Games from occurring in

1940 and 1944. It’s a record he shares with German

kayaker Birgit Fischer, who won six gold medals from

1980 to 2004, and who also missed out on a chance

of more (the East German boycott of Los Angeles

1984 meant she missed the Games entirely).

Motor Racing

10 The longest Formula 1 winning streak

was set by Michael Schumacher in 2004,

when the German speed and car-bashing

specialist won seven races in succession from May to

August. Impressive, but no F1 driver has ever made it

to double figures. That honour goes to NASCAR driver

Richard Petty, who won 10 consecutive races in 1967.

Maximum respect to the man they call ’The King’,

even if NASCAR is just above drag racing and just

below the Wacky Races on the list of motorsports

we fully understand.

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34 | October 19 2012 |

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| October 19 2012 | 37

Sir Chris Hoy

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All about the bike

Britain’s greatest Olympian tells Sport why the past four years were his toughest yet – and how Scottish football made him cry

Sir Chris Hoy

38 | October 19 2012 |

Bikes are my obsession When I was 10, I could have told you the

weight, cost and specification of every single

piece of kit on my bike. That obsession doesn‘t

really change over the years, as you become

involved with the process of designing the

bike you use on the track – you go to the wind

tunnel and do testing with the team. I still go

to exhibitions and bike shows to see all the

new manufacturers and components out

there – and that‘s when I realise that not

much has changed since I was that kid with

his nose pressed up against a bike shop

window, wishing I could get this bit or that

bit for my bike.

Football broke my heart The first time sport made me cry was in 1986.

I was a big Hearts fan, and going into the last

day of the season they just needed one point

to win the league. Even if they‘d lost, they still

would have won, as long as Celtic didn't win

their game by three or more goals. Inevitably,

they lost 2-0 to Dundee and Celtic won 5-0

against St Mirren. I was inconsolable. Two

weeks later, Hearts were in the Scottish Cup

final [pictured below, right] against Aberdeen

– a match they should have won, but they

lost 3-0. And that was it – I‘d had enough

of football. I was heartbroken.

We were once the underdogsIn Sydney, we were still feeling like the poor

relations against the Aussies, the French

and the Germans. It was Jason Queally‘s gold

medal at those Games [in the Men‘s 1km Time

Trial] that started the ball rolling, though,

and made us realise that we could win at

the highest level. That was the start of the

British Cycling journey, and 12 years later

we‘re the top nation in the world. You need

to have the self-belief before you can win,

but it‘s hard to win without it. So it‘s difficult

to start off. But, if you have talented athletes,

good coaching and commitment, then anything

can happen.

My first Olympic gold left me in shockWhen I stood on top of that podium in Athens

in 2004 [after winning the 1km Time Trial],

my overriding emotion was disbelief. I just

couldn‘t believe it had worked out, because

being Olympic champion is something you

always associate with other people. That first

time you step on the podium and hear your

name followed by the words ‘Olympic

champion‘, you just feel disbelief mixed with

relief and sheer elation that you‘ve achieved

everything you‘ve ever wanted to.

The past four years were the hardest of my lifeI lost count of the number of times people

mentioned my age [Hoy is now 36] and said

I was getting past it. As soon as you have a

bad result, people start saying you‘re on

a downward spiral and asking: ‘Is this the

beginning of the end?‘ It‘s hard enough

hearing that from other people – but when

you start to think it yourself, because you

have dips in form or pick up injuries that are

hard to shake off, that‘s the really hard stuff.

When it gets to the Olympics and you win,

it looks like the result was never in doubt –

for me, it was anything but that.

The Commonwealth Games will be my last big oneI would love to be there to represent Scotland,

but I don‘t want to count my chickens just yet.

There‘s a lot of training and hard work

between now and then, and I wouldn‘t want to

turn up just to get my tracksuit and wave to

the crowd – I‘d want to be there to try and

get a medal. The standard is so high at the

Commonwealth Games; you‘re basically only

missing the French and Germans to make it a

world-class event. It would be a fantastic way

to end my career – and as long as I stay injury

free and have the form, then it‘s possible.

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

Highland Spring, sponsor of Sir Chris Hoy, has

launched a limited-edition Hoyland Spring bottle –

available in UK supermarkets during October

and November Da

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Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

Hoy story: celebrating becoming Olympic

Time Trial champion (top); the 1986

Scottish Cup final (above, left); Queally gets things rolling in 2000 (above, right);

and reflecting on Keirin gold this summer

40 | October 19 2012 |

Advertising Feature

Taking it to Australia

T he last time the British & Irish Lions toured Australia, back in 2001, they played two games in Brisbane and won them both. The second

of those fixtures was the first of three Tests

against the mighty Wallabies – a game in which

Brian O’Driscoll and Jonny Wilkinson starred as

the tourists won 29-13.

Warren Gatland and his men will be looking to that

result for inspiration when they kick off their own Test

series down under next summer. The first match is

once again scheduled to take place in Brisbane, at

the city’s impressive Suncorp Stadium on Saturday

June 22. And with a little bit of planning, starting right

now, you can make sure you are there to support them.

Eastern delightAustralia is known for its rich sporting heritage, and

Brisbane has been as much a part of that as any other

city in the land. Traditionally home to the first Test of

every Australian Ashes series – played at the iconic

Gabba – it can also claim to be the birthplace of modern

Aussie sporting greats such as rugby league legend

Darren Lockyer, Pom-bashing cricketer Ian Healy and

Rugby World Cup-winning fly half Michael Lynagh.

That is some pedigree right there, but to think

of Brisbane purely in sporting terms is to do an

injustice to its many other attractions. The sunny

and sophisticated capital of Queensland and

third largest city in Australia, Brisbane lies on

the glorious east coast and offers visitors a

spectacular array of different experiences.

Many of those centre on the river that gave

Brisbane its name – and no time spent in this pleasingly

laid-back city should pass without a trip down its

leisurely twists and turns. Glide down the river on a

majestic paddlesteamer by day, or wait until nightfall

and kayak past the city’s glittering skyline; either

way gives you a view of Brisbane you won’t get

from anywhere else in the city.

Sun and cultureNot that Brisbane is just about the views – indeed,

you can choose to do as much or as little as you like

in a city that provides

equal opportunities for

action and relaxation.

Laze in the lush riverside

gardens of South Bank or

go for a bike ride in the City Botanic

Gardens; take a stroll around the sprawling

Queensland Cultural Centre or abseil the cliffs at

Kangaroo Point; dine out along South Bank’s sandy

lagoon or head to nearby Moreton Bay for a swim and

a snorkel. There is never a shortage of things to

do or see in this vibrant city of sun and culture.

That said, sun and culture couldn’t be much further

from the minds of the British & Irish Lions when they

step out on the Suncorp Stadium pitch in just a little

over eight months from now. If you want to begin your

own Australian adventure by being there to support

them, now is the time to be making your plans.

The first Test of next summer’s British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia takes place in Brisbane. You could be at the game, before heading off to explore the wonders of the east coast

To find out more about the British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia, head online to

www.australia.com/lions

| 41

While you’re there... BrisbaneSaturday June 22 is the date you want to pencil into your diary for when the Lions line up against Australia in Brisbane. After the tourists win that one, however, you are free to enjoy everything the east coast has to offer – and, nice people that we are, we’ve put together the following list for you

British & Irish Lions in Australia 2013Next summer’s Lions Tour of Australia comprises nine games, including the big three Test matches, played across six major cities. You can plan your big trip around the following schedule:

Tour match 1

Lions v Western Force, Perth, Wednesday June 5

Tour match 2Lions v Queensland Reds, Brisbane, Saturday June 8

Tour match 3

Lions v Combined NSW & QLD Country, Newcastle,

Tuesday June 11

Tour match 4

Lions v HSBC Waratahs, Sydney, Saturday June 15

Tour match 5

Lions v ACT Brumbies, Canberra, Tuesday June 18

First Test Lions v Australia, Brisbane, Saturday June 22

Tour match 6

Lions v Melbourne Rebels, Melbourne, Tuesday June 25

Second Test

Lions v Australia, Melbourne, Saturday June 29

Third TestLions v Australia, Sydney, Saturday July 6

whitsunday islands

A collection of 74 idyllic, mostly

uninhabited islands tucked inside the

Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea has

‘romantic trip for two’ written all over

it. Clear, moonlit nights, spectacular

sunsets, secluded beaches, pure air...

the kind of place you could plan that

special night – or just grab some sticks

and a ball and play cricket on the beach.

Get there

The sugar-producing city of Mackay is

the best place from which to launch your

Whitsunday voyage – and it’s only an hour

and a half away from Brisbane by air.

gold coast

Sunny subtropical climate, glistening

beaches, great surf – it’s little wonder

that the Gold Coast (Australia’s sixth

largest city, by the way) is one of the

country’s major tourist destinations.

Surfers Paradise is naturally where the

waveseekers will head first, but there’s

plenty else to get involved with too:

snorkelling through a shipwreck off

Main Beach, exploring the waterfalls,

rainforest and scenic bushwalks of the

Gold Coast hinterland, or swimming with

the dolphins at Sea World. Awesome.

Get there

The Gold Coast is a mere 94km south

of Brisbane. Heck, you could jog there.

CAIRNS

The gateway to Queensland’s tropical

north, Cairns is a stylish city known for

its relaxed atmosphere and a location

on the doorstep of the World Heritage-

listed Great Barrier Reef. Swim, snorkel,

dive or sail your way round this unique

and beautiful ecosystem – and, if you

have any time left afterwards, take the

scenic railway to the tranquil, butterfly-

fringed village of Kuranda or book

yourself into an eco-lodge in the

magical Daintree Rainforest.

Get there

Cairns is 1,700km from Brisbane, most

easily done in the air – an internal flight

takes just under two and a half hours.

NexT Week!meLBourNe ANd SydNey

For your c

hance to w

in a trip to

Australia

to see th

e Lions

in action, tu

ne in to

the Driv

etime show

on talkSPORT

from Octo

ber 22-26. T

he prize in

cludes all tra

vel and

tickets to

the Sydney and M

elbourne Te

sts. Score

!

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7 DaysOCT 19-OCT 25

HIGHLIGHTS

» Premier League preview » p44

» Champions League preview » p46

» Boxing: Kell Brook v Hector Saldivia » p48

» Horse Racing: British Champions Day » p50

» Best of the Rest » p50OUR PICK OF THE ACTION FROM THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD

42 | October 19 2012 |

Saturday RUGBy UNION | HEINEKEN CUP: ExETER CHIEFS v CLERMONT AUvERGNE | SANDy PARK | SS1 6PM

Great expectationsSo, one weekend of European rugby down, and Exeter have yet again proved all their

doubters and naysayers wrong with a

massive performance away to the defending

champions. The feelings down in deepest

Devon this week will be mixed ones, though,

because that 9-6 defeat to Leinster – brave

as it was – could have been so much better

but for a few refereeing decisions.

It’s onwards and upwards for the Chiefs,

however, and coach Rob Baxter knows his

team can’t afford to dwell on the result at

this level. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t

get a bit pleased with ourselves, think we’ve

performed really well and then get stung next

week,” Baxter said this week – and with

French giants Clermont Auvergne in town

tomorrow, it’s a sensible warning.

Clermont tore

the Scarlets

apart last week,

running in six

tries in a 49-16

win at Stade

Marcel Michelin. So Exeter will be well aware

of their finishing class, even if the Scarlets

were reduced to 14 men for more than half

of the match. With the likes of Lee Byrne,

Sitiveni Sivivatu, Aurelien Rougerie, Wesley

Fofana and Morgan Parra in their back line,

this is not a side to be taken lightly.

Baxter, though, will be well aware that the

Scarlets caused a few problems of their own

before they were reduced to 14 men, and will

look to emulate that dynamic attacking

platform down at Sandy Park. The boot of

Gareth Steenson will need to be on top form,

but with Tommy Hayes, Tom Johnson and

James Scaysbrook in their pack, Exeter have

the nous to compete up front – while the

creativity and finishing power of Luke

Arscott, Ian Whitten and Matt Jess in

particular mean the Chiefs have nothing

to fear. A win here, and Baxter’s men

are right in the mix in pool five.

The resT of round 2

friday Castres v Northampton, SS2

(red button) 8pm

Glasgow v Ulster, SS2 8pm

saTurday

Scarlets v Leinster, SS1 1.35pm

Treviso v Toulouse, SS1 (red button) 1.35pm

Saracens v Racing Metro, SS1 4.40pm

Connacht v Harlequins, SS1 (red button) 6pm

Biarritz v Zebre 6pm

sunday

Cardiff v Toulon, SS2 (red button) 12.45pm

Munster v Edinburgh, SS2 12.45pm

Leicester v Ospreys, SS2 3pm

Montpellier v Sale, SS2 (red button) 3pm

uk.medalofhonor.com

© 2012 Electronic Arts Inc, EA, the EA logo, Medal of Honor and Danger Close are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Frostbite is a trademark of EA Digital Illusions CE AB. “2”, “PlayStation”, “PS3”, “Ã’’ and “À” are trademarks

or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. KINECT, Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, the Xbox logos, and the Xbox Live logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from

Microsoft. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

TM

If you were to list the Portuguese managers at Chelsea in order of success (we don’t know what you do in your spare time), it’s fair to say

Andre Villas-Boas wouldn’t be top. Top two,

maybe. Still, after his short spell on the King’s

Road ended in ignominy, the suddenly popular

Spurs boss will be excited to welcome his

former side tomorrow – especially after his

current team’s success in recent weeks.

The shaky start to his reign at White Hart

Lane has been long forgotten after four wins

on the bounce, and AVB has his side playing

with incredible self-belief – as recent victory

at Old Trafford proved. With Sandro protecting

the back four, Tottenham’s four-pronged

attacking midfield is thriving behind an

in-form Jermain Defoe, and the fact their last

six goals have come from six different players

shows how tough this side are to stop.

At the back, Hugo Lloris and Brad Friedel

battle for the number-one shirt behind a

defence that has conceded only three in

four home games, with Jan Vertonghen,

Younes Kaboul and William Gallas rotating.

AVB might feel like he’s made a point to

the Chelsea hierarchy, then, but the side

he left in March have picked up two trophies

since and remain unbeaten this season.

Ironically, Roberto di Matteo’s side play

with a similar blueprint to AVB’s, with John

Obi Mikel sitting deep to allow the likes of

Oscar, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard freedom

to create behind Fernando Torres.

Three of the past four league meetings

between these two have ended in a draw.

While both managers would take that right

now, don’t expect either side to come out to

park the bus. That’s a different Portuguese

manager you’re thinking of.

1144 | October 19 2012 |

7 Days

saturday ToTTenham v chelsea | whiTe harT lane | sky sporTs 1 12.45pm

Feeling blue

saturday wesT brom v manchesTer ciTy

The hawThorns | 3pm

West Brom have long played a role as an unfashionable Midlands side that pull off the odd plucky win and ultimately scrape survival – but new boss

Steve Clarke hasn’t read the script. In his first full season, the former

Liverpool coach has put together a side that remains unbeaten at

home and possesses genuine threats up top in the shape of Peter

Odemwingie (pictured), Shane Long and Romelu Lukaku, who may miss

out after picking up a knock on international duty. Counter-attacking

football has brought them success this season, so City will need to

avoid overcommitting in attack. Roberto Mancini’s men, though not

at their best, are yet to lose, and will expect to take three points.

It’s also about time Mario Balotelli did something crazy.

sunday qpr v everTon | lofTus road

sky sporTs 1 4pm

Public backing from his owner will ease the pressure on QPR boss Mark Hughes (pictured), but with two points gleaned from only seven games, that support is only going to last so long. Fourth-placed Everton

are in town this weekend, but the Super Hoops will take heart from

injury to Marouane Fellaini – a blow to a team that has scored the

highest percentage of headed goals in the league. Injuries, meanwhile,

have been the story of QPR’s season – they will be delighted if they

have no fresh worries after the international break. Hughes’ mission

now is to take small steps forward. Having gone 2-0 down before they

kicked into action in their previous two games (against Wests Ham and

Brom), a clean sheet at half time would be a good start.

Premier League AVB welcomes some old friends to north London, while Mark Hughes is fast running out of friends in the west

Of Chelsea’s 15

league goals so far

this season, Eden

Hazard or Juan Mata

(or both) have been

directly involved in 11

saturday west ham v southampton | upton park | 3pm

All p

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saturday norwich v arsenal carrow road | espn 5.30pm

sunday sunderland v newcastle | stadium of light | ss1 1.30pm

saturday manchester united v stoke | old trafford | 3pm

The big story here – at least on his own Twitter feed – is Michael Owen’s return to the all-too-familiar Old Trafford bench. On the pitch, Manchester United dispatched Newcastle easily two weeks ago, and will look to do the same here. Tony Pulis’ side won’t roll over easily; they are sure to get ‘picked on by the ref’ along the way, but they should beware of an in-form Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie starting to hit their stride.

We can’t prove Felix Baumgartner’s claim to have spotted a West Ham through ball during his descent last week, but you’d expect the Hammers will look again to the direct power of Andy Carroll (pictured) to create chaos among a defence that has conceded 20 this term. The Saints have goals in them, though – Rickie Lambert has four already – but they’ll need to survive an aerial bombardment first.

Whisper it, but Arsenal look solid at the back this season, and have options on the bench that stretch beyond a 12-year-old French workie. With Santi Cazorla (pictured) settled and pulling the strings, the Gunners look dangerous – and winless Norwich have their work cut out to stop them scoring. Their best hope is that Grant Holt unsettles the visitors in the same vein as Andy Carroll did for West Ham a fortnight ago.

The fact Demba Ba (pictured) has scored more league goals than Sunderland this season, and that the Black Cats have the lowest shooting average in Europe – just six shots per game – doesn’t augur well for Martin O’Neill’s men. On the flip side, Sunderland remain unbeaten at home, while Newcastle are yet to win away. But they say you should throw the form book away on derby day, so this preview is probably useless. Sorry.

| 45

saturday swansea v wigan liberty stadium | 3pm

Having failed to register a victory in five games, Swansea are sliding down the Premier League at an alarming rate. Add the fact that the Swans have only played two sides in the top half, and three points are a must tomorrow. The good news is Wigan have also failed to win in five. The bad news is that Wigan are also desperate for points, and they were three minutes from beating Everton last time out. A draw, then.

Chelsea 7 6 1 0 15 4 19Man Utd 7 5 0 2 17 9 15Man City 7 4 3 0 15 8 15 Everton 7 4 2 1 14 8 14Tottenham 7 4 2 1 13 8 14West Brom 7 4 2 1 11 7 14Arsenal 7 3 3 1 13 5 12West Ham 7 3 2 2 8 8 11 Fulham 7 3 1 3 15 11 10Newcastle 7 2 3 2 8 11 9 Swansea 7 2 2 3 12 11 8Stoke 7 1 5 1 6 5 8Sunderland 6 1 4 1 5 7 7Liverpool 7 1 3 3 9 12 6Wigan 7 1 2 4 7 13 5Aston Villa 7 1 2 4 6 12 5Southampton 7 1 1 5 12 20 4Reading 6 0 3 3 8 13 3Norwich 7 0 3 4 5 17 3 QPR 7 0 2 5 6 16 2

P W D L F A Pts1234567891011121314151617181920

Premier League table

Newcastle striker Papiss Demba Cisse has had 16 shots without finding the net in the Premier League16

saturday fulham v aston villa craven cottage | 3pm

If ever a game sat in the “…and now we round up the rest of the action” category on Match of the Day, this is it. Martin Jol will expect a reaction to Fulham’s draw with Southampton, while Paul Lambert’s Villans have mustered only two goals in four away games this season. Reports of a bust-up between Lambert and top scorer (albeit with only two goals) Darren Bent won’t help matters. Neither will Bent likely starting on the bench.

saturday liverpool v reading anfield | 3pm

Diving, new stadium plans, Friday night Office-style documentaries – Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool have been busy boys this season, but they’re struggling for form on the pitch. And with Fabio Borini out, Luis Suarez is their only real goal threat. On the plus side, Nuri Sahin has settled well in the midfield, and Reading arrive having conceded 13 goals in six winless games, so the Reds remain favourites. What could go wrong?

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46 | October 19 2012 |

7 Days Champions League

Wednesday Group D: AjAx v MAnchester city | AMsterDAM ArenA | sky sports 2 7.45pM

In May 2008, having presided over three consecutive Scudetto titles with Inter Milan, a record that saw him become the club’s

most successful manager in three

decades*, Roberto Mancini was thanked for

his efforts and sacked. His crime: to have

failed repeatedly in the only tournament that

really matters to axe-wielding football club

owners: the Champions League. Mancini’s

record in the tournament was dismal. In four

tournaments his side never made it past the

quarter finals, and only twice made it as far

the last 16.

For a man who had forged his managerial

reputation on success in cup competitions

– from 2004 to 2008, his teams reached a

record five consecutive Coppa Italia finals,

and between 2002 and 2012 he guided every

club he has managed to at least a semi final

of a major cup competition – Mancini has

come up short at the very highest level.

In his defence, the draw has not been kind

to Manchester City. Last season: Bayern

Munich, Napoli and Villarreal. This season:

the champions of Spain (Real Madrid),

Germany (Dortmund) and Holland (Ajax).

To be drawn in one group of death is

unfortunate. To be drawn in two seems as

though someone on high has a twisted sense

of humour, or prefers Manchester United.

“Sometimes, when you play in the

Champions League, you should be happy with

the draw,” harrumphed Mancini. But then

few clubs City have been drawn against have

spent nearly £100m reinventing themselves

as a European superpower.

Maybe it’s because they are Europe’s

dominant spending force that fuels the

suspicion that City don’t appear to be

progressing as far or as fast as the owners

might like. Two games into this campaign and

they’ve blown a 2-1 lead with five minutes

left, only to lose at the Bernabeu, and

required a last-gasp penalty to salvage an

entirely undeserved draw at home to

Dortmund: a single point from six. Any

progress that seemed to have been made in

grinding out that unlikely and unmerited lead

at the Bernabeu was undermined by the

naivety that characterised last season’s

European campaign.

“I don’t need to learn,” bristled Mancini

when questioned about his European record

and City’s Madrid defeat. “We made some

mistakes... if we want to go through, we

have to improve quickly.” Worryingly, he

was speaking before that Dortmund game

– in which, if anything, they regressed.

To suggest Mancini’s job rests on the

next European games is entirely unfair, but

that’s modern-day football. Fail to win in

Amsterdam against Ajax this Wednesday,

and Mancini will have more difficult

questions to answer. Lose and the game

could be – could be – as good as up for both

City and the likeable Italian. On the other

hand, victory in the first of back-to-back

games against the Dutch champions could

see City’s stumbling campaign gather pace,

which will buy Mancini time. In determining

his future at the Etihad Stadium, it could all

hinge on Wednesday night.

*Those three Scudetti were delivered during

the Calciopoli matchfixing scandal, when

AC Milan and Juventus were deducted points

and the Old Lady relegated to Serie B.

Mancini’s CV doesn’t lie, but it might deceive.

The night of no return?

| 47

Tuesday Group E: Shakhtar DonEtSk v ChElSEa | SS4 7.45pm

Tuesday Group h: manChEStEr unitED v BraGa | itV 7.45pm

Tuesday Group G: BarCElona v CEltiC | SS2 7.45pm

Wednesday Group B: arSEnal v SChalkE 04 | SS4 7.45pm

The champions of Europe may be top of the table

(on goal difference), but have so far been less

than assured. The Ukrainians took a point at

Juventus in their previous fixture and will test

the Blues’ resolve in the Donbass. Four points

from back-to-back games will suffice, then.

An unlikely top-of-the-table clash after Celtic’s

first ever Champions League away win at

Spartak last time out. The first of a double-

header here takes them to the Camp Nou first,

where their past two visits have seen a 1-0

defeat in 2008 and a 1-1 draw in 2004.

Unconvincing but with a perfect six points so far, United face Braga looking down from on high in

Group H. But the Portuguese are no mugs, having

returned from Galatasaray’s Turk Telekom Arena

with a 2-0 win last time out, and they won’t fear

a comparatively quiet night in Manchester.

A customary fast start sees the Gunners top

of Group B and with a relatively straightforward

path to the last 16. The unbeaten Germans pose

their toughest test so far, but they have never

won in England – losing four of five. The exception

is a draw with Wolves in 1958-59. We predict a

home win, but defeat for the Gunners in Germany.

The key

games

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Special K diet

Saturday Boxing | Kell BrooK v Hector Saldivia | Motorpoint arena, SHeffield | SKy SportS 1 8pM

Kell Brook’s last contest was either the best or worst fight of his career, depending on your perspective. The Sheffield welterweight

bossed the first five rounds against tough

American Carson Jones, but was seriously

roughed up in the second half of the fight, left

bloody and clinging on in the 12th round to

edge a majority decision. Had the unbeaten

26-year-old proved his heart in a much-

needed gut check, or did this bout expose that

‘Special K’ is a level below elite class?

Brook claims that the stamina problems

that afflicted him against Jones will be solved,

thanks to a healthier diet and more sensible

weight-making. The man he’s looking to prove

this against on Saturday is Argentina’s Hector

Saldivia, a solid but unspectacular boxer –

albeit one with decent power (32 KOs in his

41 wins). Perhaps eating fewer right hands

would be a great place to start his new diet if

Brook wants to achieve his aims of world titles

and fights against the likes of Amir Khan and

Ricky Hatton in 2013.

Kell Brook (right) goes toe to toe

with Carson Jones

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50 | October 19 2012 |

7 Days

Saturday Horse racing | Qipco BritisH cHampions Day | ascot | BBc one, racing UK & at tHe races 1.30pm FRIDAY

FootBaLL

championship:

sheffield

Wednesday v Leeds, Hillsborough,

sky sports 1 7.45pm

triatHLon World triathlon grand

Final: Women’s race, auckland, new

Zealand, BBc red Button 12.10am

BaseBaLL mLB postseason:

st Louis cardinals v san Francisco

giants: game 5, Busch stadium,

espn america 1am

SATURDAY

FootBaLL spL: st mirren v celtic,

st mirren park, espn 11.45am

FootBaLL La Liga: Deportivo v

Barcelona, estadio riazor, ss4 9pm

triatHLon World triathlon grand

Final: men’s race, auckland, new

Zealand, BBc red Button 1am

SUNDAY

tennis Wta Kremlin cup: Final,

olympic stadium, moscow,

British eurosport 1 HD 10am

motogp malaysian grand prix,

sepang circuit, selangor,

British eurosport 2 HD 10am

motorsport British touring

car championship: round 10,

Brands Hatch, itV4 10.30am

goLF mcgladrey classic: Day 4,

sea island golf club, georgia,

sky sports 2 7pm

nFL new england patriots v

new york Jets, gillette stadium,

Foxborough, massachusetts,

sky sports 3 9.15pm

MONDAY

nFL Detroit Lions v chicago Bears,

Ford Field, Detroit,

BBc red Button 1.25am

TUESDAY

goLF pga grand slam of golf,

port royal golf course, Bermuda,

sky sports 3 9pm

THURSDAY

goLF BmW masters: Day 1,

Lake malaren golf club, shanghai,

sky sports 1 5.30am

BESt OF tHE rESt

The sporting gods do like to offer up cruel twists of fate on occasion: witness Donald

Bradman falling for a duck in his final

test innings, when he needed only four

runs to retire with an average of 100;

see Zinedine Zidane butting his way

into footballing infamy when seeing

red in a World cup final, his last ever

professional game of football; and

what else could explain us having to sit

through the tedium of adrian chiles

every time itV broadcasts a match?

thus does Frankel

head to ascot for his

last race on saturday,

with a perfect record

of 13 wins from 13

races at stake against possibly the best

field he has ever faced. His appearance

in the champion stakes is the highlight of

a top-class card on British champions

Day, but trainer Henry cecil, jockey tom

Queally and the watching world will be

able to relax only once the four-year-old

superstar has brought his career to an

end with victory. “i just want to get him

through this last race unbeaten,” cecil

told us recently. He should be crossing

his fingers the gods were listening.

Tempting fate

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Extra time Gadgets

52 | October 19 2012 |

Making the most of your time and money

Rekindle an old flameIt’s high time we got hot and flustered

over Amazon’s latest tablet offering

Making the most of your time and money

Kindle Fire HDAmazon’s seven-inch tablet is finally getting

its UK outing this week, after taking the US

by storm over the past year. It’s easy to see

why – it’s small enough to hold in one hand

and cheap enough that you feel comfortable

doing so without fear of dropping it and

having to eat noodles for the rest of the year.

The top-end model has an HD screen and

multitouch control, with a front-facing

camera for video calling. If you’ve already

built up a collection of e-books but are yet

to take the tablet plunge, this is not a bad

place to start.

From £159 | amazon.co.uk/kindlefirehd

3. Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 The standout feature on

Samsung’s latest player has

to be the FM radio, which lets

you tune into local broadcasts

from anywhere in the country.

Amazing stuff. There’s also

apps and games if, for some

bizarre reason, the annoying

tones of Nick Grimshaw on

Radio 1 aren’t your thing.

£130 | amazon.co.uk

P60

Dr Dre’s latest prodigy,

Kendrick Lamar. The good doc

prescribes us his new album

happy Finnish

MODEL NO: 42S7080was £599.99

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Finlux 42-inch 3D ultra-slim LED TV

Full HD 1080p, 100Hz, 2D-3D Upscaling

& includes 8x 3D Glasses!

The Finlux 42S7080 3D TV offers breath-taking 3D The Finlux 42S7080 3D TV offers breath-taking 3D

action and 8 pairs of comfortable 3D glasses to enjoy it

with. A handy built-in 2D to 3D upscaling feature

allows you to transform any programme, match or

gaming session into the third dimension, adding extra

depth to the enjoyment of all your favourite shows. Its

100Hz too, so all your sporting and cinematic action

will be smoothly delivered before your eyes. Plus with will be smoothly delivered before your eyes. Plus with

USB PVR recording you’ll get to pause, rewind and

record live shows via your TV!  

£169.99

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• Ultra-slim LED design

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Well heeledO

kay, so the shoes are probably not what your

eyes have immediately been drawn to when

you take a butcher’s at Elena Gomez here.

And if you’re looking for a girl like Gomez,

your high street butcher’s would probably not be the

best place to start. But it’s not a million miles away,

because before the WAG-turned-model found fame,

she was employed in a shoe store.

That was before she met Manchester City’s £16m

summer signing Javi Garcia. The pair met while the

former Real Madrid defensive midfielder was in his

first league-winning season at Benfica, and their

pairing has since propelled her into the limelight.

That’s not to, ahem, put her in a box, because she

has soul to go with her soles (alright, we’re nearly

finished). Her Twitter biog reveals her to be something

of a poet – written in Spanish, it roughly translates to:

“At the heart of every winter lives a pulsating spring,

and behind every night comes a smiling dawn.”

Something to remember when you find yourself

trying on a pair of brogues in Clarks on a cold Thursday

night in November.

54 | October 19 2012 |

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Extra time Elena Gomez

| 55

Extra time Kit

56 | October 19 2012 |

Look cool, stay warm...... and beat energy price rises

by wearing all of this at once

2

3

4

5

1. Teva Men’s Chair 5You know those

days in London

when a sprinkling

of snow means

the city ceases to

function? Well, at

least you can keep

your feet warm

while it melts, with

these lightweight

boots. Waterproof

and insulated,

they’ll even get

you to work when

your train doesn’t.

£110 |

snowandrock.com

2. Barts Dakota ScarfLook, we all enjoy

our slanket time

on the sofa, but

you can look a

bit odd if you go

out wearing one

– we’ve tried it,

and odd we looked.

Luckily, this

chunky knit

number will keep

you warm without

attracting those

pitying looks from

strangers.

£55 |

surfdome.com

3. Under Armour Storm HoodyUnder Armour

excel in keeping

you warm in

sporting gear

– and their new

hoodies are no

exception. This

one is designed to

repel water and

make it roll right

off the cotton,

while the soft

inner traps heat.

Some combo.

£50 |

underarmour.com

5. Analog Alder Mitt GlovesComplete with

fleece lining,

corduroy blocking

and a stash pocket

on the wrist, these

look and feel great

– and, crucially, are

warm. Designed

by snowboarding

star Danny Davis,

who would be

disappointed if

you used them to

get your casserole

out of the oven.

£45 | ss20.com

6. Rohan Icepack VestWhether you’re

trekking the

snow-kissed dales

of Yorkshire,

heading off on

a weekend shoot

or just want to

pretend like you’ve

made it while

walking the dog,

this insulated

gilet will keep you

warm, dry and

– let’s face it –

looking ruddy

marvellous.

£95 | rohan.co.uk

7. Weekend Offender Big Country JacketHopeless with

public transport in

Berlin? Fret not:

this feather and

down jacket comes

with a detachable

hood, check lining

and the Berlin tube

map on an inner

panel. And it’ll earn

you 190 doves

on the Weekend

Offender website.

Just look it up.

£190 | weekend

offender.com

4. Alpinestars Dude BeanieIf you’re more

Jean Luc Picard

than James T Kirk

when it comes to

follical coverings,

this acrylic

number – which

also happens to

be available in

platinum grey

– will keep your

bonce warm

throughout the

winter months.

Make it so.

£20 |

blackleaf.com

1

6

7

| 57

Advertising Feature

Become a catwalk kingBe in with a chance to win a trip to explore Fjord Norway by sending a

picture of YOUR catwalk to the number one baselayer brand: Helly Hansen

There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes, according to the Scandinavians. They should know. It’s exactly why Helly Hansen use

Scandinavian design as the cornerstone

for their world-renowned baselayers.

Whether you’re hiking across the

Norwegian fjords, walking on glaciers or

working up a sweat in the UK’s own great

outdoors, there’s a Helly Hansen baselayer

that’s perfectly suited to the task. Designed

to keep you warm, dry and comfortable using

one-of-a-kind Lifa Stay Dry technology, Helly

Hansen’s baselayers are your second skin

– with the unequalled ability to move moisture

to keep you dry.

Want to put that to the test? Thanks to Fjord

Norway and Helly Hansen, who have teamed up

for the Helly Hansen Catwalk competition, you

might just be able to. The Helly Hansen catwalk

isn’t your average fashion runway populated

by scantily clad models throwing out their own

interpretation of Blue Steel – instead, it is

wherever you enjoy the outdoors the most.

To enter the competition, take your camera

to your own favourite catwalk and capture it in

a photo that really shows it off. Then upload it

at www.hellyhansen.com/fjordnorway.

Snap a winning picture and you could be off

on one of three dream trips to Helly Hansen’s

own awe-inspiring catwalk among the fjords

of Norway – the most beautiful destination

in the world.

Whether you are skiing, trekking, climbing

or boating, the fjords of Norway offer the most

breathtaking scenery you will ever find. And, by

entering the Helly Hansen Catwalk competition,

you could win one of three different – but

equally awesome – trips there. The Fjord

Adventure trip will take you walking along

glaciers, hiking up hills and driving along

narrow, winding roads with sensational views

(for those brave enough to open their eyes).

There’s also a Fjord Winter trip to the Alps

of Sunmore, for those who crave the finest

powder and best slopes around. Finally, there’s

a chance to experience the nature and culture

of the fjords, taking in the beautiful scenery

from the water, on a Fjord Safari and on a

scenic train journey. Every grand prize winner

wins a full set of Helly Hansen gear too, so

they’ll be more than ready for the adventure.

There are also runners-up prizes of skiing

jackets and skiing pants (see hellyhansen.

com/fjordnorway for full T&Cs).

So, grab your camera, take an amazing

photo of your favourite catwalk and upload it

for the chance to visit the wonderful catwalks

of the Norwegian fjords – a magical corner of

the world that you can read more about at...

www.fjordnorway.com

A trip to the fjords of Norway

HH Dry Revolution SRP £50

HH Warm Freeze 1/2 Zip SRP £65

h2o+ Shine Neutralizing Gel and Cleansing Mousse

Marks & Spencer, so practised at providing your

Friday night fish supper, have extended their

oceanic reach to bring you the science of marine

skincare with this, the h2o+ range. The Face Oasis

Neutralizing Gel – in the tub down there – is full of

hydrating marine botanicals that rapidly replenish

depleted skin and fill surface lines with a surge

of moisture. It helps stabilise and control oil

production and reduce surface shine, while a blend

of seaweed extracts also helps prevent acne

breakouts. The mousse, meanwhile, has a gentle

oil-free formula designed to remove impurities

without stripping away surface moisture, and

provides a daily deep-pore cleanse to rinse away

what few impurities remain. Put them together,

and they are a perfect remedy for your shipwreck

of a visage after the damage done between

post-supper Friday and Saturday morning.

marksandspencer.com

Wilkinson Sword Hydro

Provided you haven’t

deliberately steamed up the

mirror to write inappropriate

messages to your cohabiter/s,

the joy of Wilkinson Sword’s

latest offering is that you can

actually see the parts you are

supposed to be shaving while

you are shaving, because

this gel is transparent and

non-foaming. So you can keep

your sideburns equal lengths.

Will likely vary on its appeal –

depending on what your face

looks like in the first place.

boots.com

Philips Styleshaver Pro

One for all the facial hair-styling fans out there,

say Philips. Sport is not necessarily a fan of facial

styling per se, but we are keen on this three-in-

one styler. The double-headed design means you

can shave with the straight-edge dual foil shaver

and style with the trimmer head on the other end,

which has 12 adjustable length settings that

guarantee a precise and even trim. And when

you’re done, you can rinse it off under the tap.

amazon.co.uk

58 | October 19 2012 |

Precision

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Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012

Leaping lemurs, migrating birds and lions stuck up

trees: the 2012 instalment of the Natural History

Museum’s annual wildlife photo exhibitions is as

entertaining as it is diverse. Opening today, a

hundred images are on show until March 2013.

Our pick is the above of a golden eagle and a red

fox in Sinite Kamani National Park, Bulgaria. The

cheeky cub is being chased off after he tried to

snatch some grub from the bird, who’s definitely

got the enraged look on his mush that we get when

anyone tries to pinch a chip from our plate. Scary.

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Beasts of the Southern WildLaden with film festival awards,

Beasts of the Southern Wild bobs

into UK cinema screens on a sea

of hype today. Set in the Bayou,

this fantastical film focuses on a

strong-willed girl, Hushpuppy, who

lives with her fiercely protective

but erratic father. When he falls ill

and the waters rise, she has to

fend for herself. Pretty impressive

(considering our main worry at

age six was completing our Panini

sticker album) and Quvenzhane

Wallis’ performance has seen her

tipped to become the youngest

ever Oscar nominee. Some critics

have called the film an allegory for

post-Katrina Louisiana, others see

it as an eco-fable. But all agree

that this is a wondrous visual

treat – and one of the year’s best

and most imaginative tales.

E.T.

Steven Spielberg’s kids

classic finally lands on

Blu-ray on Monday. The

film’s transfer is superb,

while all-new extras

include a 50-minute

documentary filled with

behind-the-scenes

footage and a Spielberg

interview, as the great

director gets misty-eyed

about when he actually

used to make good films.

Full Colour Sound The Brights

Infectious harmonies

and a triumphant blast

of horns welcome you to

this second album from

this aptly named jangle-

pop band. Meshing a fine

British indie tradition

(think The La’s) with a

warm, US surf music

sound, it’s packed with

gleeful melodies. Listen

at thebrights.co.uk and

drag yourself out of

your autumnal malaise.

Hollywood Costume

From Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones attire –

complete with hat and bullwhip – to Darth Vader’s

cape, this autumn blockbuster at London’s V&A

features some of Hollywood’s most iconic outfits.

As well as hundreds of costumes new and old,

there’s also the on-camera participation of

Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep, discussing their

own use of costume. If that doesn’t sell it to you,

all we have to say is simply: Christopher Reeve’s

Superman costume. Open from this Saturday.

good kid, m.A.A.d city Kendrick Lamar

Dr Dre has already given us Eminem, Snoop Dogg and

headphones that let you see hipsters coming from far

away. His latest protégé is, however, his best delivery

in years. Kendrick Lamar’s hit Swimming Pools is a

great taster of his Monday album, the woozy beat

a perfect backdrop for Lamar’s

take on falling into a dangerous

drunken stupor. Weighty stuff,

but the Californian’s quirky wit

means it’s anything but preachy.

Promises to be one of 2012’s

most original hip-hop releases.

60 | October 19 2012 |

exhibition

Wild things

Beasts invade your cinema, wildlife

on show at the Natural History Museum

and E.T. returns to earth 30 years on

film

mUSiC

exhibition blU-raymUSiC

Extra time Entertainment