William Hill Press Office

Marcus Trescothick Wins World's Richest Sportsbook Prize

FORMER England batsman, Marcus Trescothick's autobiography, 'Coming Back To Me', has won the world's most valuable sportswriting prize, the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

Coming Back To Me - Marcus Trescothick

Trescothick, and his co-writer, Peter Hayter collected Ł20,000; a Ł2000 William Hill bet and a hand-bound copy of the book by master binder David Sellars, for winning the 20th annual William Hill Sports Book of the Year, announced by judge, John Inverdale, at Waterstones, Piccadilly, London. The prize was presented by Olympic Gold medal winning athlete, Michael Johnson, who is currently working on a book of his own.

The winning title details the personal problems which resulted in Trescothick's withdrawal from the England side. 'This is only the second autobiography to win the Award' said Hill's spokesman and founder of the prize, Graham Sharpe, 'The judges felt it fearlessly tackled one of the great taboos of elite sport.'

The five other finalists for the Award all collected Ł2000 cash, a Ł1000 William Hill bet and a leather-bound copy of their books:

20th ANNUAL WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF YEAR SHORT-LIST:

John Carlin - Playing The Enemy (Atlantic)
The story of Nelson Mandela and the Rugby Union World Cup Final.

Janie Hampton - The Austerity Olympics (Aurum)
The story of the 1948 London Olympics.

Rowan Simons - Bamboo Goalposts (Macmillan)
Selling grassroots football to the Chinese.

Marcus Trescothick - Coming Back To Me (HarperSport)
The Autobiography.

Jeremy Whittle - Bad Blood (Yellow Jersey)
Falling out of love with the Tour de France.

Jonathan Wilson - Inverting the Pyramid (Orion)
The history of football tactics.

Judging Panel:
John Inverdale; Danny Kelly; Hugh McIlvanney; Alyson Rudd. Chairman of Judges: John Gaustad.

Further information...
Graham Sharpe -
0780 3233702//0208 918 3731.