Charlie Spedding

Charles ("Charlie") Spedding (born May 19, 1952 in Bishop Auckland, County Durham) is an English former long-distance runner. He was fourth in the 10,000m at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane and was England’s Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) 10,000m champion in 1983 in a time of 28:08.12. His first marathon was the Houston Marathon in 1984, which he won by "the thickness of a vest".

Spedding followed this up by winning the London Marathon in 1984 and the bronze medal for Great Britain in the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States, finishing just 2 seconds behind silver medallist John Treacy. Although it was the first British Olympic marathon medal for 20 years, and the last won by Britain (male or female), the performance was one of 16 British medals in athletics that year, and it possibly didn't get the recognition it deserved.

In 1985 he set a PB and English Marathon record of 2:08.33 when he finished second behind Steve Jones in the London Marathon. He remains the second fastest British marathon runner after Jones. In 1987, he finished 8th in the London Marathon in 2:10.32. He also competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, finishing 6th. He is a pharmacist by trade. In September 2009, he published an autobiography of his running career called From Last to First.

Achievements

External links

• Article from 2001 in The Northern Echo
• Article from 2003 in the Evening Chronicle
• From Last to First
• Sunday Times article 25 April, 2010
• Account of the finish of the 1984 Houston Marathon
• Power of 10 UK Men's Marathon Rankings
• Power of 10 Profile: Charlie Spedding