Jim Alder

Glasgow-born Jim Alder was one of the best road race runners in Britain in the second-half of the 1960s, but had a tough start to life when both his parents died before he was eight and he was brought up by foster parents in the north-east of England. Alder’s first choice of sport as a youngster was football. He also enjoyed running, and after seeing the famous 13.6-mile Morpeth to Newcastle road race (a race Alder won five times between 1965-74) he was inspired, and by the time he was in his late teens he showed potential as a runner.

After joining the Morpeth Harriers, he won many road races in the north-east. He also the 1961 Scottish cross-country title, and in 1963 won the Inter-Counties 20-mile road race at Victoria Park, London. The following year Alder established a world record for the 30,000 metres (1-34:01.8) and set a world best distance for two hours (37,994km). It remained a record for more than 50 years. He lowered the 30 km record to 1-31:30.4 in 1970.

Alder went to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Kingston, Jamaica in 1966 and won the marathon gold and six miles bronze medals representing Scotland. He won marathon bronze when the Games were held in Edinburgh four years later and took bronze at the 1969 European Championships in Athens. Unfortunately for Alder, he failed to finish the marathon at the 1968 Mexico Olympics after being in trouble before the 10-mile mark, and eventually dropped out and was taken to hospital with exhaustion. Alder had been a non-travelling reserve for the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Runner-up in the AAA 10 miles in 1965, Alder won his only senior AAA title at Nuneaton in 1967 when he won the marathon. To add to his collection of international honours, Alder won well over 50 Northumberland and Durham County, nine north-east, and five Scottish cross-country titles. He also competed in the International Cross-country Championships 10 times between1962-72. Alder finished second in his first marathon at Glasgow in 1963 and ran 24 more marathons between then and 1981.

A bricklayer by trade, Alder’s biography Marathon and Chips by Arthur T. Mckenzie, was published in 1981. Alder was awarded the MBE for Services to Sport in the north-east in 2007.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-12:04 (1970).