Is Jon Brown the most miserable runner EVER?

And all the runners who finished in front of me were on drugs, I am the only true runner around

I am the Messiah

Canada Dry suits me

Hi Bazza, welcome back, have you been on holiday?

Hi Jonny. Yes I have been away for a week. (Have I missed anything interesting?) I've also been promoted at work which will involve being away from my desk a bit more so less time to ponce about on the internet, In fact, I think I've only been promoted to get me off here.

Anyway, you running Sunday?

Congratulations on your promotion Bazza, hope you enjoyed your hols too. It got a bit boring without you here, I even went looking for you on the Joggers World website, that's how bored I was.

Yes I'm running on Sunday, I will be at the Championship start with Jon Brown, would you like me to pass on a message to him?

people should have more respect for John Brown, it sounds to me like he has had a rough deal, if any other top European had turned up late and asked to be included he would have been paid, at the end of the day, steinle, tergat and Keska ahve all pulled out, to say there was no many after they pulled out seems a bit ridiculous to me, Brown will get picked as long as he is under 2.15, even if 3 Britians beat him and rightly so. He is a tremendous heat runner and I think the tough nature of the course in Athens will suit him, he is a potential medallist.

waz wrote:

people should have more respect for John Brown, it sounds to me like he has had a rough deal, if any other top European had turned up late and asked to be included he would have been paid, at the end of the day, steinle, tergat and Keska ahve all pulled out, to say there was no many after they pulled out seems a bit ridiculous to me, Brown will get picked as long as he is under 2.15, even if 3 Britians beat him and rightly so. He is a tremendous heat runner and I think the tough nature of the course in Athens will suit him, he is a potential medallist.

Jon Brown should maybe consider having more respect for others. When you an adult you take the rough with the smooth, obviously there is more to this than meets the eye.

For his sake he had better crack 2:15 ... something he hasn't been able to achieve in how many years.

It is true that Jon Brown is from yorkshire and would probably charge you for a smile, but he does in my book have some redeeming features.

He trains and races very hard. He doesnt make excuses. He tells it as it is.

He and London dont get on - that is well documented. In this instance they are taking advantage of their position as a trial for the Plympics to get Jon to run for nothing. I suspect that if they had offered him a modest sum then he would have behaved slightly differently.

As London is probably only giving him a free place and a hotel bed then he might not have signed the usual contract that means he has to attend Press Conferences and wear the Flora kit. So he was well within his rights.

London should have sorted this out in a more appropriate way, but that is not their style with Jon.

Yes he looks miserable most of the time but so would I if I came from the same county as JohnnyO.

Brown was offered $2,000 to attend the offical press conference and wear the official kit, but he obviously thought himself above every other runner who has ever had to do that, from Steve Jones to Paul Tergat et al. I can't believe Nike even bother to sponsor him - they can't get much for their money. And just because he's a good runner, doesn't mean he should be above criticism. He's in some serious need of a PR lesson. ALSO, I don't think it's a good race strategy to get involved in this sort of thing so close to a race. AND I don't think it's good to aim for 2.14.59 either. Personally I don't see the problem for an elite runner to do two hard marathons in year.

Of course, Charlie Spedding ran three marathons in 1984 - Houston in January, 1st 2.11.48, London in May, 1st 2.09.57 and the Olympics in August 3rd 2.09.58. How times have changed. Oops, there I go again....

Grunt wrote:

It is true that Jon Brown is from yorkshire and would probably charge you for a smile...........Yes he looks miserable most of the time but so would I if I came from the same county as JohnnyO.

Well Grunt, ya see t'difference is, I'm from North Yorkshire 'n 'es from 't South o't county. 'es a miserable bugger an' I aren't. 'e can't win a race to save 'is life, so 'is market value int what 'e thinks it is.

The truth is out there : from Times on Line

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7713-1076242,00.html

Acknowledging that Brown was ?upset that he is not being paid by London?, Bedford revealed that, remarkably given their respective positions, the two had never spoken. ?I am informed by my media team that, when Jon Brown came to the press conference, he said he would not wear the marathon top and would come on in his Nike gear. He would not accept the offer of coming on with a white-only T-shirt with no branding. It is a condition of our contracts with athletes that they will wear Flora London Marathon clothing.?

Bedford dismissed Brown?s quoted comment that the marathon was hostile towards him probably because of comments he had made some years ago relating to distance running being ?saturated? by drugs.

Bedford pointed out that Brown had been paid to appear on more than one occasion since. According to Bedford, their disaffection with each other stemmed from Brown failing to fulfil contractual obligations in the 2001 London Marathon when, after dropping out, he made himself unavailable to explain why. A row ensued over how much Brown was due. Describing Brown?s actions as ?the worst behaviour that we have come across at any time?, Bedford added that he had not been offered an appearance fee this year because, by the time he expressed an interest in taking part, the $2 million (about £1.1 million) elite field budget had been allocated. Bedford then signed off, apparently tongue in cheek, by saying: ?I wish him the best of luck on Sunday. I hope he qualifies.?

______________________________

Go Jon Go

I agree that he is giving a poor image and maybe getting himself distracted this week.

Is this a (South) Yorkshire bashing thread? At least Brown's got a free number. I've somehow got 2 numbers for the price of one. Super value!

waz wrote:

I think the tough nature of the course in Athens will suit him, he is a potential medallist.

Based on what form?

I think it comes across as a simple clash of personalities, Bedford has recently described himself in the press as 'a cult superstar' over his court case with 118 118, which I find remarkable as outside the distance running community he is a nobody. He seems to have managed to stay in the public eye through his own self publicity. He was the same in his competitive days.

Brown on the other hand keeps himself to himself, trains hard, is amongst the best non african distance runners in the world and yet is constantly criticised. People never seem to get over the fact that he is essentially a quiet man who has a great talent for his sport. He is not under any obligation to put ona show, he is not a celebrity (as Bedford seems to see himself). Considering what he has achieved I think Brown has had a rough deal.

As for Bazzas comment that he sees no reason why a top marathon runner can't run 2 races in a year, what makes you the expert? Everybody reacts differently and Brown also has to make a living, if he ran 2 marathons a year and got paid zilch, as in London he would soon be looking for employment!

The argument taht he should wear Flora merchandise is beside the point, Bedford fails to mention that when radcliffe or Geb or tergat were wearing it they were being payed hundreds of thousands of dollars to do so, a little more of an incentive than no appearance fee and £1200 to sit and get slagged off by the organiser.

I would love to see a medal round Jon Browns neck in athens, Brown is quicker than Bedford at every distance he has competed over, read into taht what you will, Bedford should grow up... he just doesn't like the fact that he is the figurehead of an event that has had more than one dubious winner in teh past, Bedford simply did not like Browns comments about past winners, simple as that...

waz wrote:

As for Bazzas comment that he sees no reason why a top marathon runner can't run 2 races in a year, what makes you the expert? Everybody reacts differently and Brown also has to make a living, if he ran 2 marathons a year and got paid zilch, as in London he would soon be looking for employment!

Brown is quicker than Bedford at every distance he has competed over, read into taht what you will, .

Not true actually

5000m

Dave Bedford - 13:17.21

Jon Brown - 13:19.03

P.S I'm no expert - though perhaps if Brown needs to earn a living he should race a bit more often. There is also plenty of evidence of top marathoners producing fast times twice in a year. And to be blunt, I have as much chance of getting a medal in Athens as Jon Brown has. He still has the potential t orun a decent time and he should qualify for the Olympics, but he won't get top three. Top 10 will be a good result and if he gets there then good luck to him.

What is the point of racing slow ?

Based on the fact that every time he competes at World level (unlike other Male British distance runners) he is competitive. He knows exactly when he is fit and 99% of the time he is consistent and doesn't diissapoint, a 19th in the World Cross in his first race for months and with no specific preperation tends to say he has some form.

Why do people have it in for him?

He has mu uppermost respect, he tells it like it is and doesn't go in for all the celebrity shit, he is a good distance runner and his running should speak for itself. When he isn't around we might start to appreciate what he did, because there is certainly nobody on the horizon, near or far who is going to run 27.18, if he does start running for canada after the Olympics which he has threatened I wouldn't blame him becasue he is treated like shit over here.

I seem to remember you saying taht it was a disgrace that he was picked for world Cross? He made you look like a right chump over that bazza and I for one hope he will do it again!

His plan was not to run a spring marathon, he felt it was too close to the Olympics (he should know he finihsed 7 seconds off a medal in the last one so nobody can question his preperation) but he ran badly in japan and his hand hs been forced, therefore he will do as little as possible to qualify, I think that makes sense...

waz wrote:

I seem to remember you saying taht it was a disgrace that he was picked for world Cross? He made you look like a right chump over that bazza and I for one hope he will do it again!

I'm not sure I said it was a disgrace. I said it was wrong as I didn't think he had done enough recently to warrant selection, and that I didn't think he would run that well. As it turned out he ran very well - but being wrong doesn't make me feel like a chump. These things happen. It's unikely his run in London will make me eat my words as he's already stated that the best he's going to do is 2.14.59. If he lines up in Athens I hope he has a good one - but I'll lay you any money you like that he won't get a medal.