Brendan Foster

Brendan Foster CBE (born 12 January, 1948 in Hebburn, now Tyne and Wear, England) is a British former distance runner, and the founder of the Great North Run. He was educated at St Joseph's Grammar School, the University of Sussex and Carnegie College of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Metropolitan University.

Brendan Foster's athletic career saw him compete in three Olympic Games, claiming Britain's only track and field medal (bronze in the 10,000 metres) at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Although only winning a bronze medal, Brendan Foster had the distinction of setting the Olympic record in the heats of the event, a record which lasted until 1984. In 1973 he broke the World Record for 2 miles at Crystal Palace with a time of 8:13.68. In 1974 he won the European Championships 5,000m, beating Olympic champion Lasse Virén en route to Gold. In the same year he broke the 3,000m World Record on his home track, Gateshead Stadium with a time of 7:35.1. That year, Foster was awarded the BBC's prestigious Sports Personality of the Year award.

He established his personal best in the 10,000m in 1978 with a time of 27:32.65 run in Prague while also winning 10,000m Gold at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. Foster was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1976.

Since retiring from the sport after the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Foster has worked for BBC Television, commentating and reporting on Athletics at every major event since 1983.

In 1981, Foster founded the Great North Run. The 2005 race was the 25th staging of the event, in which over half a million people have taken part over the years. The event regularly attracts over 50,000 entrants, making it (as it has been every year since 1981) the UK's biggest road race, with only the London Marathon coming close to challenging it for numbers of participants. In 2003, Brendan ran the Great North Run himself for the first time in many years after an on air challenge from Ray Stubbs of the BBC at the 2002 event.

Foster is also the Managing Director of Nova International, and Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

External links

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