John Bryan Herring
Running
1964 Tokyo Olympics
John Bryan Herring was born on 10th April 1935 in Lewisham. After attending Colfes School at Lee Green he went on in 1953 to the London School of Economics. After National Service with the RAF he became a Customs and Excise officer based at Surrey Docks, remaining there until taking up the post of assistant director of Crystal Palace Sports Centre in 1970.
He was a lifelong member of Blackheath Harriers and ran in the 5,000 metres in the 1964 Tokyo Games.
After the first London Marathon in 1981 John Herring was recruited to the team and took responsibility for the start of the next 12 London Marathons, in which the number of runners has increased from 16,000 in 1981 to around 30,000 today. From 1994 Herring acted as the Marathon's course manager for three years, and later as a consultant. He died on 7th October 2003 in Lavenham, Suffolk.