Mavericks, rebels, oddballs, loners. Don't you just love them?

Most of us do. The trouble is, those in authority usually don't. Particularly those who run sport.

I confess I'm a closet fan of United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage - but only as an amusing character. Because I'm certainly no fan of UKIP's policies. Similarly London Mayor Boris Johnson. Love him to bits, though I'm no Tory. For me, dear old Bojo's skilfully-orchestrated eccentric persona outweighs his politics.

So when it comes to sport, cards on the table. I'll take the non-conformists every time, from Muhammad Ali through to Jose Mourinho via Sir Alf Ramsey, Eddie The Eagle, Eric the Eel, Gazza, Ian Botham, Maradona, Brian Clough, show jumping's V-signer Harvey Smith, taekwondo's go-it-aloner Aaron Cook and of course the daddy of all rebel-rousers, John McEnroe.

All, and many more, have helped make the sports world go round while falling foul of the Establishment at one time or another. Largely because the blazers have little understanding of what makes such idiosyncratic characters tick.

Admittedly I am not too sure about Prince Naseem Hamed or Kevin Pietersen - both a little too smugly narcissistic for my liking. But they have been supreme entertainers , though in Pietersen's case the real surprise of his now terminated England cricket career is that he was ever selected in the first place, such is the deep-seated suspicion of the "maverick" in British sport.

One resolutely off-beat character I have long admired is the former British distance runner Dave Bedford.

Dave Bedford was one of the finest distance runners Britain has ever produced ©Getty Images



He was the hairy monster of athletics whose name was on everybody's lips, not least his own. Bedford reveled in being the bearded braggart of sport, a red-socked rebel holding up two fingers to officialdom, yet filling the stadiums wherever he ran.

While he may have no Olympic medal to show for it, he was one of the finest distance runners Britain has ever produced, holding at one time or another every UK record from 2,000 to 10,000 metres, including the steeplechase. He also won a world cross-country title, running, as always, from the front.

Those were the days when EPO was just a tinkle in a chemist's test-tube. To Bedford, the only performance-enhancing substances which mattered were Guinness and gumption.

Yet nowadays respectability is the Bedford by-word. It was a masterstroke when the late Chris Brasher, co-founder of the London Marathon, hired him to organise the London Marathon, no doubt aware, aware as something of an athletic anarchist himself in his heyday, that it takes one to know one.

Bedford has been beavering away on the Marathon's behalf for the past decade-and-a-half and his selling of the event to punters, sponsors and the media has helped make it the greatest one-day fundraising event in the UK, with half a billion pounds going to charitable causes over the years.

A couple of years back, when Bedford stepped down from his full-time post as race director, I asked in insidethegames: "Why has he never received a gong? Many lesser (but less rebellious) athletes have been honoured, but not Bedford."

With the help of Dave Bedford, the London Marathon has become the greatest one-day fundraising event in the UK ©Getty Images



Well now he has, a belatedly but thoroughly deserved OBE, presented to him two weeks ago by Prince William at Buckingham Palace. One occasion when "Bootsie" was suitably suited.

A few of us who have followed his career met with him over lunch this week to celebrate his award.

He is in fine fettle after a knee replacement op last year, still lean and trim though the once-shaggy curls and Zapata moustache could do with a dollop of Grecian 2000. But his enthusiasm remains eternally youthful.

He has always said apart from having sex for the first time, running the marathon will be the most exciting thing people do in their entire lives. After spending his own lifetime in sport, he is still clearly in love with it.

As poacher-gamekeeper conversions go, his was definitely in the gold-medal class. He has not only been the international race director but also responsible for marketing and promoting the entire event. From rebel in running shoes to establishment man in a suit was a remarkable transition for someone whose battles with the blazers (as well as the 118 118 directory service who stole his hirsute trademark) were legendary, and still are.

And at 64 he hasn't quite hung up those boots. He still works part-time organising the elite division race of the race and is hopeful Mo Farah's collapse in New York won't affect his debut in London on April 13, for which the bookmakers still make him favourite.

Unfortunately, the latest news about another of sports modern mavericks who, like Bedford, has made a name as a race organiser, is not quite as upbeat. One of his Olympic contemporaries, the former gold medallist Tessa Sanderson, has lost her bitter running battle with Newham Council to keep alive the popular annual 10km event staged in the East London borough.

Olympic javelin gold medallist Tessa Sanderson's 10km run in the borough that staged London 2012's main events has hit the buffers ©Getty Images



Sanderson tells us that the race, also due to be held next again month, has had to be abandoned after six years, claiming the Council has put too many obstacles in the way. "The last straw came when they wanted to double the fee we pay them," she says.

"Dealing with them has been an absolute nightmare, with delay after delay over promised meetings. I am so saddened, both for the local community and those athletes my Foundation helps sponsor with their training and other expenses from the race profits. They will now lose out. This has cost us a lot of money."

The first British black woman to win Olympic gold - she was javelin champion at Los Angeles in 1984 - the feisty six-times Olympian, 56, has long had a fractious relationship with the Council, who have cited "significant ongoing concerns over the potential impacts, including road safety and traffic disruption" for their reluctance to give the go-ahead for the race, stating: "We are not prepared to compromise the potential safety of runners and residents or have major traffic jams in the Borough.

"Representatives of the Tessa Sanderson Foundation have once again failed to convince the Newham Safety Advisory Group that they have a safe plan for the run which would not have a significant and unacceptable impact on local residents."

An angry Sanderson disputes their take on the situation and asks: "What does this say about Olympic legacy in Newham, the Borough which hosted the 2012 Games? I don't know what their motive is other than a hidden agenda that they may want to promote their own race."

Last year's race attracted 3,000 runners with 45 different nationalities. Adds Sanderson: "Newham have been totally bloody-minded over this. I hate being beaten, but they've left us no option but to cancel what has proved a worthy event."

I agree. When you look for Olympic legacy in the Borough which made so much play about being the heartland of London 2012, it doesn't exactly hit you between the eyes.

It seems to me the problem with the silly burghers of Newham is that they have no idea how to handle someone as strong-willed as Sanderson. And like so many of the sniffily high-minded when it comes to dealing with those who challenge the system, they find it easier not to try. Which is as much a loss to society as it is to sport.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.