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Goodbye marathon man
 
March 1, 2003 10:05am
 
 
CHRIS Brasher, the Olympic steeplechase champion who helped Roger Bannister break the four-minute mile barrier, has died of cancer aged 74.
 
The athlete, co-founder of the London marathon, was one of two pacemakers when Bannister set his historic record in 1954.
 
Brasher led the way for the first half-mile, turning in a blistering time which set up the final push by fellow pacemaker Christopher Chataway and finally Bannister himself.
 
Last night Bannister remembered his old friend. He said: "Chris was gallant and brave right to the end, he had won so many battles in his life.
 
"We had 50 years of friendship, Chataway, Brasher and I, and we mourn him and grieve for his family."
 
In an article he wrote for the 20th anniversary of the record run, Brasher admitted feeling "a fraud".
 
He said: "Any fame I had was as a result of Roger's generosity in giving so much credit to us, his pacemakers.
 
"In reality, I was a very ordinary athlete with very little to my own personal credit."
 
For an "ordinary athlete" he enjoyed a series of remarkable wins, culminating with his taking Gold in the 1956 Olympic steeplechase.
 
Brasher was so overjoyed at winning he went off to celebrate over a 19-hour "liquid lunch" with British journalists.
 
He arrived for his medal presentation, in his own words, "'blind drunk, totally blotto". Brasher recalled: "I nearly fell flat on my face as I leaned forward, breathing gin fumes over an International Olympic Committee Frenchman as he tried to hang a medal around my neck."
 
After retiring from running, Brasher worked as a reporter on The Observer and on BBC television.
 
He won the sportswriter of the year award in 1968 and 1976.
 
Brasher also set up the Brasher Boot Company in 1983. The lightweight walking boots became one of Britain's leading brands and made him a millionaire.
 
But the London Marathon will remain Brasher's greatest legacy.
 
He helped start the event after watching the New York race in 1979.
 
The first London Marathon, in 1981, had 7,747 starters.
 
It has since grown into one of the world's most prestigious races, raising hundreds of millions of pounds for charity.
 
Brasher won recognition for his founding role when he accepted a CBE in 1996 while John Major was Prime Minister, having refused the honour when Margaret Thatcher was in charge on the grounds that she had no feeling for sport.
 
He leaves a wife, Shirley - former tennis player Shirley Bloomer - a son and two daughters.
 
Publication: The Mirror
 
Distributed by Financial Times Information Limited