Marathon chief bids for new race to finish in 2012 stadium

 
Matthew Beard20 April 2012

The new boss of the London marathon wants to stage an annual run in the Olympic Park after the Games.

A half-marathon through the streets of Stratford and finishing in the main stadium is among several Olympic schemes in the pipeline.

Hugh Brasher is also bidding to stage an annual mass event for cyclists along the Olympic road cycling course from London to Surrey.

Brasher, a sportswear entrepreneur and son of the late London marathon founder Chris, is joint race director with David Bedford for Sunday’s event after which he assumes sole control.

He said: “The potential is huge to finish an event at the Olympic stadium — anything that involves an event there is inspirational.”

Brasher, whose events company popularised the stadium finish with Reading half marathon, added: “Being clapped and cheered by ten thousand people as you cross the finish line feels like the most incredible thing.”

Detailed planning for a running event will go ahead once the post-Games landscape of the park takes shape but the first one could be in autumn 2014.

The London Marathon has teamed up with Sweetspot, which organised the Tour de France in London, to bid for the post-Games cycle road race which has the backing of City Hall.

Brasher said Britain must use cyclists such as Sir Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins to inspire a cycling boom: “In the Eighties it was the peak of British running and people didn’t realise it. In cycling we have amazing cyclists and you need to put in place things that are going to inspire future generations.”

Some 34,000 runners will participate in the marathon on Sunday. Mr Bedford, a former 10,000m world champion who has attracted some the best runners to London, retires this year.

The London Marathon also designed the four-lap Olympic marathon course. The route has tight turns but Brasher is confident there will not be accidents. “I think the athletes would prefer that the 180-degree turn on Westminster Bridge was not there but they will prepare themselves for it,” he said.

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