POSTED: April 5th 2011
NewsUpdate
Olympic marathon proves a step too far for London race boss Bedford
KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications
LONDON, Apr 04: David Bedford, it has now emerged, quit two months ago as marathon manager for London 2012's Olympic Games. The 61-year-old blamed a collapse in his relationship with Games organisers.
Bedford, who is also race director of the London Marathon, was said by Nick Bitel - that event's chief executive - to have taken his decision for personal reasonsof the marathon manager for the 2012 event until he quit in February.
London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel said Bedford's decision was a personal one and the organisation would continue to work closely with Games organisers on the marathons and race walk events.
He added: ''David has decided not to work on the Olympic events any more. That's his personal choice and I very much regret his decision. 'The decision was due to his frustration with LOCOG's approach to event management.
"He has incredible knowledge and experience so we regret the fact he's not working on the events, but we are continuing to work closely and harmoniously with LOCOG and we are confident that they will be great events.''
Bedford was reported by the Evening Standard a saying: ''I quit my role; I resigned. We (London Marathon) are a professional business run by professionals and it was very difficult to work for another organisation who in the main have never organised an event of their own.''
Bedford described the handling of the decision to cut out East End boroughs from the marathon route as ''appalling'' and was also unhappy over the May test event for the marathon. He criticised the way LOCOG had gone about organising the marathon, including the decision not to run it through Tower Hamlets as originally planned.
He said: "Had the 2012 organisers engaged with Tower Hamlets and told them what was happening and why, it would have been all right but they didn't. They dropped it on them as a fait accompli and that's not the way you should treat a partner. It was done appallingly and I imagine when Seb [Coe] made peace with the [East End] politicians he also apologised at the way they had been treated."
A London 2012 spokeswoman said: ''This was Dave Bedford's own decision. It hasn't affected the strong working relationship that the London Marathon has with LOCOG. Both organisations are working closely together on the test event in May 2011, and on the delivery of first-class Olympic and Paralympic marathons in 2012.''
Keywords · Bedford · LOCOG · London 2012 · marathon
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