From Last to First: A long-distance runner's journey from failure to success

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Foster told AW: “The sport of athletics has lost part of its conscience. The numerous athletes he coached and advised over 50 years have lost their guiding light. I’ve personally lost the most influential person of my athletics life but most significantly I’ve lost a truly great mate. With disarming frankness Charlie told me: "I didn't do anything very well as a kid. I was always close to the bottom of the class and didn't excel at any sport. Jones, on the other hand, had won large amounts of money due to his Chicago win and world record, although his earnings were in a trust fund and he was yet to see a penny of it. Spedding's bronze medal in the Olympics and victories at the London and Houston marathons in 1984 were impressive entries on his CV, but he still saw Jones as the man to beat in London: "Steve is the favourite and that takes the pressure off me." Jones saw it as a battle between his fitness and Spedding's experience. It wasn't quite on the same scale as Ovett-Coe, but the rivalry ensured an eagerly awaited race on that sunny day in 1985.

In November 2019 he published a book Stop Feeding Us Lies: How Health and Happiness Come to Those Who Seek the Truth which examines dietary recommendations and lifestyle approaches which he analyses as being causes of high levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other illnesses.The year was 1975 and Charlie was only 23 with, as he puts it, "no evidence of what was to come" - but nine years later he stood on the Olympic medal rostrum. He has definitely been (and may still be) in the pay of archenemy Gates and is a rather too keen proponent of unnecessary vaccines. In my view the medical profession lies somewhere far below journalism and estate agents in the moral integrity stakes.

Dunn later began coaching fellow Gateshead Harrier Spedding and guided him to an unexpected bronze medal in the Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984 in addition to victory in the London Marathon. Then one day we had a race over two miles of pathways around the school. A few set off at a brisk pace but, once out of sight, dropped down to a walk. Because Charlie revealed he only received #14,000 up front - the other #70,000 was a life insurance policy. Spedding had been prepared to make a late bid for a place in Britain's 10,000 metres squad at the LA Olympics had he failed in Houston but now the marathon was his new domain. He conquered Texas in the January and London the following May, when his Gateshead Harriers team-mate Kevin Forster was second to make it an incredible double. The London Marathon was founded by Olympic champion and journalist Chris Brasher, and athlete John Disley, with the first event taking place on March 29, 1981. After running the New York Marathon in 1979, Brasher finished an article in The Observer asking ‘whether London could stage such a festival? We have the course, a magnificent course…but do we have the heart and hospitality to welcome the world?’ The first London Marathon took place two years later, with 20,000 runners applying to run; 7,747 were accepted and 6,255 crossed the finish line. Since then, the London Marathon has become the most popular running event in the world, with nearly half a million runners applying to run the 2020 race.

Little did I know that my first experience of the London Marathon would be timed so perfectly, at least from the perspective of a young British sports fan. In the intervening years there has been very little to cheer in the men's race, Britain's last win coming in 1993 through Eamonn Martin, but maybe Mo Farah is the hope on the horizon that marathon running in this country needs.