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). He competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, the 1969 European Athletics 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).