Jim Alder

James Noel Carroll Alder is a British former distance runner.
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 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,. 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 1 h 34 min 01.8 s in 1964. In that race he also set world records for 20 miles and 2 hours. The IAAF did not recognise the latter two marks for world records, but they were accepted as United Kingdom national records. Alder finished second behind Ron Hill in the 10 miles event at the 1965 AAA Championships and became British marathon champion at the 1967 AAA Championships.
At the 1968 Olympic Games, in Mexico City, his height was recorded at 5 ft 8 in and his weight was 141 lb.
By 1970 he was running for Edinburgh AC and ran the best marathon of his career in the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 2 h 12 min 4 s. In September 1970, in London, he set a new record for 30,000 m of 1 h 31 min 30.4 s which still stands today.
He won The Great Northern Half Marathon, Belfast in 1971 promoted by County Antrim Harriers in a time of 1 h 5 min 5 s.
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. Later that year in October, Alder featured on the BBC One series Inside Sport and was interviewed by Ray Stubbs. In 2012, Alder was selected to carry the Olympic flame through Northumberland, for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.