11 Facts About Chris Brasher

Christopher William Brasher CBE was a British track and field athlete, Olympic champion, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon.

Chris Brasher was a keen mountaineer, and as a student was president of the Cambridge University Mountaineering Club, and in 1948 led an expedition to Baffin Island with W A Deer.

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, Chris 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.

Chris Brasher 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:.

Chris Brasher had distinguished careers in print journalism, as sports editor for The Observer newspaper, and in broadcasting, as a reporter for the Tonight programme.

Chris Brasher founded Chris Brasher's Sporting Emporium in 1971; this later became Sweatshop.

In 1981 John Disley and Chris Brasher founded the London Marathon.

Also in 1983 Chris Brasher partnered with his longtime friend John Disley to found Fleetfoot Limited in Lancaster, England.

Chris Brasher married the English tennis champion Shirley Bloomer in 1959.

Chris Brasher was awarded the Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Livingstone Medal in 2002.