Background

Brasher, Christopher William was born on August 21, 1928 in Georgetown, Guyana. Son of William Kenneth and Katie (Howe) Brasher.

Education

Chris Brasher attended Rugby school in England and then to St John's College, Cambridge where he got his Bachelor of Arts in 1951.

Career

When studying at St John's College, Cambridge, Chris Brasher's talent at middle-distance running blossomed. Thus, beginning from 1951, Brasher won the Cambridge University Three Miles (14:22.4) and was second in the match against Oxford. He was also second in the Kinnaird Trophy Three Miles in the better time of 14:12.4. Brasher put himself on the Steeplechase map with a 3rd place in the British Games (9:27.2). Then at the World Student Games in Luxembourg, he ran a fine second to Josy Barthel in the 1,500 with 3:54. 0, and went on to win the 5,000 in 15:07.6. Such success put him on the official list of possibles for the 1952 Olympic Games.

After graduating from college, Chris Brasher worked for Mobil Oil in London while preparing for the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, where he competed in the steeplechase. He finished a disappointed 11th in the final, well behind his compatriot and lifelong friend John Disley, who took the Bronze Medal.

Although he received no medals, Brasher fell in love with the Games, a love that endured until the commercialization of the event palled his ardor.

Brasher's first impact on the history books came in 1954, at Iffley Road, Oxford, where three athletes, who had returned from Helsinki without medals, lined up at the mile start for an Amateur Athletic Association team against Oxford University. Brasher led for the first half-mile, the 5000-meters specialist Chris Chataway took over for the third quarter, then Roger Bannister took off on his own for the final lap. The plan worked to perfection, and the four-minute mile was achieved (3min 59.4sec).

Next, in 1956, Brasher competed in the Olympics in Melbourne, and though many thought he was not the most talented runner, he captured the Gold in the Three-Thousand-Meter Steeplechase and set the Olympic World record with 8min 41.2sec.

Even that triumph was not without its hiccup. Brasher was initially disqualified for interfering with another runner as he made his burst for home, and he had to wait three agonizing hours for the judges' decision to be overturned - so long that his Medal ceremony was postponed to the following day.

With a Gold Medal around his neck, Brasher was offered a job as a sports editor for the London Observer in 1957. He worked there until 1961 and contributed articles to the paper until 1991.

During the 1960s, Brasher was an editor for the British Broadcasting Corporation, rising to head of general features in 1969, and later worked as a freelance reporter and writer for both print and television where he won British Press awards as Sportswriter of the Year in 1968 and 1976.

He also co-founded an athletic-shoe distribution company called Fleetfoot in 1970, as well as a business that sold compasses. After Reebok bought Fleetfoot in 1990, Brasher became the chairman of Reebok's British division from 1992 to 1994.

More recently, he was appointed chairman of the Brasher Boot Company in 1993, and of Berghaus Ltd. from 1993 to 1998.

In 1981 Chris Brasher and his friend John Disley organized the first of many London Marathons, an event Brasher directed until 1995.

Brasher was the author of several sportsbooks, including "Sportsmen of Our Time" (1962) and "Munich '72" (1972).

Achievements

• Brasher’s greatest accomplishment (with John Disley) was to get the London Marathon staged in 1981.
  
  Christopher Brasher won the Cambridge University Three Miles (14:22.4) and was second in the match against Oxford. He was also second in the Kinnaird Trophy Three Miles in the better time of 14:12.4. Brasher put himself on the Steeplechase map with a 3rd place in the British Games (9:27.2). Then at the World Student Games in Luxembourg, he ran a fine second to Josy Barthel in the 1,500 with 3:54. 0, and went on to win the 5,000 in 15:07.6.
  
  Chris Brasher was the Olympic Gold Medal winner and the record breaker in the 1956 Melbourne 3000m Steeplechase with 8:41.2 (8:41.35 on auto timing).
  
  Brasher had two expeditions to the Arctic before he was 22 and as a mountaineer, to Jangi-Tauhe, and to the Caucasus. He was a reserve for Edmund Hillary’s expedition that conquered Everest.
  
  In the late 1950s, Brasher wrote with excitement for the Scandinavian sport of "orientation" believing that running with maps through forests could become as popular in Britain as it was in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
  
  In 1965 Chris Brasher and John Disley founded the Southern Navigators club, and Chris is still known - with justification - as the father of British orienteering.
  
  Later Chris Brasher co-founded with John Disley the British Orienteering Federation in 1966.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Sportsmen Of Our Time 1962
  • Tokyo 1964 - A Diary of the XVIIIth Olympiad 1964
  • Mexico 1968 - A Diary of the XIXth Olympiad 1968
  • Munich 72 1972

Views

Chris Brasher developed a new sport in Britain, worked tirelessly for nature conservation, spending tens of thousands of his own money to preserve Britain’s diminishing wildernesses, and for good measure, through his various business interests, he made himself a millionaire several times over.

Quotations: “After nearly 50 years, my love affair with my mistress is as passionate as ever.” (On Sydney Olympics Games 2000).

“Could London stage such a festival? Do we have the heart and hospitality to welcome the world?” (Inspiration speech before the London Marathon).

Membership

• Chris Brasher was a Chairman since 1988.

  Chris Brasher Trust , United Kingdom

• 

  Founder

  Southern Navigators Club , United Kingdom

  1965

• 

  Founder

  British Orienteering Federation , United Kingdom

  1966

• 

  Racehorse Owners Association , United Kingdom

• 

  John Muir Trust , United Kingdom

• 

  Chairman

  Petersham Environment Trust , United Kingdom

• President

  Sports Writers' Association (SWA) , United Kingdom

Personality

Brasher was an enthusiast of horse racing, fishing, skiing, and mountaineering. He was an avid outdoorsman, and his drive to meet physical challenges led him to head two expeditions to the Arctic when he was still in his early twenties as well as to take part in an expedition to Everest. Chris was a member of the British party on an expedition to Jangi-Tau and RGS (Russian Geographical Society) expedition to the Caucasus.

Quotes from others about the person

• “Only Chris Brasher could have knocked the head together to achieve that.” (about London Marathon staged in 1981) - David Bedford.
  
  “Chris was gallant and brave right to the end, he had won so many battles in his life. We had more than 50 years of friendship, Chataway, Brasher and I." - Roger Bannister.
  
  "He did so much for Britain, from his incomparable Olympic gold medal to founding the London Marathon and preserving tracts of countryside." - Roger Bannister.

Interests

• Avocations: mountains, horse racing, fishing, orienteering, social running.

Connections

Chris Brasher was married to Shirley Juliet Bloomer, April 28, 1959. They had three children: Kate, Hugh, Amanda.

Father:

William Kenneth Brasher

Mother:

Katie (Howe) Brasher

Spouse:

Shirley Juliet Bloomer

child:

Hugh Brasher

child:

Kate Brasher

child:

Amanda Brasher

Friend:

John Disley

Friend:

Roger Bannister

Friend:

Chris Chataway