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David Bedford (athlete)
English long-distance runner / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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David Colin "Dave" Bedford OBE (born 30 December 1949) is an English former long-distance runner, whose athletic career spanned the early 1970s. Post-retirement, he served as race director of the London Marathon[1] until 2012, and is the Chairman of the IAAF Road Running Commission (since 2012), as well as sitting on the IAAF Cross Country Committee as the UK Athletics elected representative.
![]() David Bedford in 1972 | |
Personal information | |
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Born | 30 December 1949 (1949-12-30) (age 74) London, England |
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
Weight | 66 kg (146 lb) |
Sport | |
Sport | Athletics |
Event(s) | 5000 m, 10,000 m |
Club | Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, London |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best(s) | 5000 m – 13:17.21 (1972) 10,000 m – 27:30.80 (1973) |
Bedford held the 10,000 metres world record, improving it by 7.6 seconds with his time of 27 minutes 30.80 seconds in 1973. He also held the British records for 3000 m steeplechase and 5000 metres. He usually ran in distinctive red socks, which combined with his distinctive moustache later led to a well publicised dispute about the use of similarly attired runners in advertisements.