Hi, and welcome back to the Mohsin Salya blog.
As a child sporting heroes can have a huge impact. And for me, Brendan Foster – who is retiring this year as the voice of athletics for the BBC – was mine. Not as an Olympic athlete – I sadly never saw him run – but as the voice that described many of athletics’ greatest moments over the years.
Before he became a commentator, Foster was a highly accomplished runner in his own right. He won 5,000m gold in the 1974 European Championships and set a new world record for the 3,000m. Once he retired from the track in 1980 he proved himself to be equally comfortable behind the microphone, and has commentated on pretty much every major athletics event ever since. This year’s World Championships in London – in which he saw Mo Farah win the 10,000m and end his own track career with silver in the 5,000m – was his last.
There is one thing however that Brendan Foster will always be remembered for, and it is a legacy possibly even more lasting than all of his success on the track or as a commentator. The Great North Run was created by Foster in 1981 and is now the largest half marathon in the world. 12,000 runners took part in that first event, and today it is as popular as ever. It’s one of my favourite races to take part in and is an event that always has a completely unique atmosphere – I’d highly recommend you give it a go if you’ve never experienced it.
So, goodbye Brendan Foster – the world of running will never be quite the same again.
Until the next time,
Mohsin Salya