Sir Brendan Foster CBE (born 12 January 1948[1]) is a British former long-distance runner, athletics commentator and road race organiser.

In 1974 he won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in a time of 13:14.6 behind Ben Jipcho before winning the European Championships 5,000m, beating Olympic champion Lasse Virén en route to Gold in 13:17.2.

When the then world record was within reach, he ran the final lap in a relatively leisurely 62 seconds after establishing a commanding lead before it.

He established his personal best in the 10,000 m with a time of 27:30.3 run at Crystal Palace on 23 June 1978, while also winning 10,000 m gold at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton.

[7][8] After retiring from athletics following the Moscow Olympics in 1980, Foster worked for BBC Television, commentating and reporting on the sport at every major event from 1983 to 2017.

[9] In 1981, Foster founded the Great North Run, an annual half marathon from Newcastle upon Tyne to South Shields.

[17] Foster was knighted in the 2020 Birthday Honours for ‘services to international and national sport and to culture in North East England’.