David Bedford (athlete)

David Colin Bedford (born London 30 December 1949) is an English former long distance runner, a colourful character whose career spanned the early 1970s. He is now race director of the London Marathon, and a representative for UK Athletics on the IAAF Road Running Committee.

Bedford held the world record at 10,000m, improving it 7.6 seconds with 27 minutes 30.80 seconds in 1973. He held the British record for 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m. He usually ran in red socks.

Bedford was a great distance runner of the 1970s but his achievements were against the clock; in championships his lack of a fast final lap left him trailing at the tape. He led for lap after lap in the 1971 European 10,000m final but the pack swept past him. He finished 6th to the Flying Finn Juha Väätäinen, who won in a last lap sprint against the East German, Jürgen Haase. He came 12th in the 5,000m and 6th in the 10,000m at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

His later career was hampered by injuries believed to have been caused by high training mileage. He never ran the great marathon of which many fans thought him capable. He did run the first London Marathon but as a bet. He had been in his nightclub the previous night and David Coleman remarked on how unwell he looked.

In 2003, Bedford was in a legal dispute over the alleged portrayal of his image by the directory enquiries company The Number for its 118 118 service. The company had used twin athletes wearing red socks and Bedford's distinctive moustache and hair cut. He was quoted as saying "The bastards! You can use that word and say I said it. [They] used my image then said they had never heard of me. When they were told they couldn't use it any more they said 'Oh no it was all a big misunderstanding'. To get to that stage took £60,000 in legal fees".^[1]

In 2004, Bedford crashed the launch of a new 118 118 TV ad campaign organised by the PR agency, Brazil. Photos of Bedford being removed made the covers of The Times and Financial Times.

Bedford was president of the Road Runners Club from 2003 - 2006.

David Bedford now hosts the Radlett Rotary Fun Run every year.

In 2011 David Bedford received an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University.^[2][3]

External links

• Sporting-Heroes.net

Records
Preceded by Lasse Virén	Men's 10,000 m World Record Holder July 13, 1973 – June 30, 1977	Succeeded by Samson Kimobwa
Sporting positions
Preceded by Ian Stewart	Men's 5,000 m Best Year Performance 1971	Succeeded by Emiel Puttemans

References

1. ^ 'Recognise David Bedford? If so, it could be because of those 'cheapskates from 118', 'The London Paper, 20 April 2007, p. 36.
2. ^ "2011 Honorary Graduates". More Middlesex (Middlesex University) (1): 26–27. July 2011. http://www.mdx.ac.uk. 
3. ^ http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/news-events/news/david-bedford.aspx

Persondata
Name	Bedford, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	30 December 1949
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death