Bedford accuses missing Brown of empty words

Jon Brown, Britain's top marathon man, was today accused by Flora London Marathon bosses of being the worst-behaved elite competitor in the history of the race.

Race director David Bedford hit back at Brown following the athlete's angry complaints that he was not being paid appearance money to compete in Sunday's race.

The row escalated when Brown, having flown in from Holland to attend a news conference at the event's headquarters, refused to take part even though he had been offered $2,000 (£1,120) for his participation.

Bedford said that the 33-year-old, who finished fourth in the Sydney Olympics, had refused to wear the official Marathon top at the conference, which had been a condition.

Addressing the conference with an empty chair beside him, Bedford charted the race's stormy relationship with Brown which erupted in 2001 when the Canada-based athlete pulled out injured during the race.

"What happened next was the worst behaviour we have ever come across," said Bedford. Brown, he insisted, had broken key parts of his contract by disappearing to his room, refusing to answer the phone and failing to conduct any post-race duties, so nobody knew the reasons for his withdrawal.

Bedford said he then decided to withhold 50 per cent of Brown's race fee until the athlete had written a letter of apology. After waiting for two months, said Bedford, the apology eventually came in a "scribbled note" from Brown.

Bedford added: "This is the only athlete in 11 years that I've had a dispute with."

Brown had yesterday made the argument sound personal when he said: "I was quite happy to run the race this year, as I had the impression he [Bedford] had put this problem behind him, as I have, and moved on." He also noted that "Bedford has never spoken to me, or even introduced himself to me".

Yet Bedford insisted that the only reason Brown was not being paid was that he had only contacted organisers about wanting to run four weeks ago, by when Bedford's race budget had been spent. It followed a newspaper article in which his coach George Gandy had suggested Brown would never compete in London again.

"But I've spoken to George Gandy and said Jon was always welcome back here," said Bedford.

Bedford pointed out that lucrative time bonuses, particularly for British runners, would be on offer on Sunday. Should Brown run close to his best time of 2hr 9min 44sec, he would scoop $20,000 (£11,200).

But Brown says he now has no intention of pushing himself and is only running to gain the Olympic qualifying standard of 2hrs 15min which should be enough to ensure he can lead the challenge in Athens.

"I'm not happy to run under such circumstances," said Brown. "But I need to get the qualifying time. As the race has placed zero value on my participation, then all I think is fair is for me to run the absolute slowest I can, which is anything around 2hr 14min 59sec."

On hearing this, Bedford noted with half a smile: "A cynic would say that's as fast as he would run if he went flat out. Of course, I don't subscribe to that theory."