Jim Alder

James Noel Carroll "Jim" Alder MBE (born 10 June 1940) is a British former distance runner, from Morpeth.

Alder, who was born in Glasgow, was a foster child. His mother died of tuberculosis and his father was killed on the last day of the World War II. He moved to Morpeth, north of Newcastle, and became interested in running.

Athletics career

Alder's athletic career saw him compete at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston winning Marathon Gold, (having missed the 1964 Summer Olympics due to a knee injury). The 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, The 1969 European Championships in Athens and The 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

He set a new world record for 30,000 m of 1hr 34min 01.8sec in 1964. In that race he also set world records for 20 miles (1hr 40min 58.0sec) and 2 hours (37,994m). The IAAF did not recognise the latter two marks for world records, but they were accepted as United Kingdom national records

At the 1968 Olympic Games, in Mexico City, his height was recorded at 5'8" (172 cm) and his weight was 141 lbs (64 kg).

Alder ran his last marathon in The 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. In September 1970, in London, he set a new record for 30,000m of 1hr 31min 30.4sec which still stands today.

He won The Great Northern Half Marathon, Belfast in 1971 promoted by County Antrim Harriers in a time of 1:05:05.

Recent media

Most recently he was featured in The Sunday Times, on 15 April 2007, which profiled his gold medal winning run in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.

Alder featured on the BBC One series Inside Sport on 10 October 2007, interviewed by Ray Stubbs.

His biography is called Marathon and Chips

References

• Jim Alder profile at IAAF
• Sports reference profile
• Geronimo Jim's a gem from The Independent
• Caught in Time from The Sunday Times