Chris Brasher
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 August 1928 Georgetown, Guyana |
| Died | 28 February 2003 (aged 74) Chaddleworth, Berkshire, England |
| Occupation | athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon |
Christopher William Brasher CBE (21 August 1928 – 28 February 2003) was a British track and field athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon.
Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Brasher went to Rugby School and then St John's College, Cambridge.
On 6 May 1954, he acted as pacemaker for Roger Bannister when the latter ran the first sub-four-minute mile at Iffley Road Stadium in Oxford. Brasher paced Bannister for the first two laps, while his friend Chris Chataway paced the third. Two years later, at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Brasher finished first in the 3,000 metres steeplechase with a time of 8 minutes 41.2 seconds, but was disqualified for allegedly interfering with another runner, Ernst Larsen of Norway. The following day, after an investigation, he was reinstated as gold medallist.
He was one of the pioneers of orienteering in Britain and can claim the first public mention of the sport in an article in The Observer in 1957:
He had distinguished careers in journalism as sports editor for The Observer newspaper and in broadcasting, as a reporter for the Tonight programme.
In 1971 he founded Chris Brasher's Sporting Emporium which later became Sweatshop. In 1978 he designed the innovative Brasher Boot – a walking boot with the comfort of a running shoe. In their time these were amongst the best but recently there have been product quality issues.
In 1981 John Disley and Brasher founded the London Marathon. In 1983 he became the second president of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, an office which he held until 1987.
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