James Noel Carroll Alder (born 10 June 1940) is a British former distance runner. Alder, who was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, was a

foster child Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family member ...

. His mother died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and his father was killed on the last day of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He moved to Morpeth, north of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, and became interested in running.

Athletics career

Alder's athletic career saw him compete at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

winning

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

Gold, (having missed the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

due to a knee injury). He competed in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

in Mexico City, the

1969 European Athletics Championships The 1969 European Athletics Championships were the ninth European Athletics Championships which were held from 16–21 September 1969 at the Karaiskakis Stadium, Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. New at these championships were the w ...

in Athens and the

1970 Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time metric units rather than imperial units were used in all eve ...

in Edinburgh. He set a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

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 (1 h 40 min 58.0 s) and 2 hours (37,994m). The

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

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 (172 cm) and his weight was 141 lb (64 kg). By 1970 he was running for Edinburgh AC and ran his last marathon in the

in Edinburgh. 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 Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

in 1971 promoted by County Antrim Harriers in a time of 1:05:05.(Athletics Weekly 22 May 1971) He was featured in

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

, 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 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

series Inside Sport and was interviewed by Ray Stubbs. In 2012, Alder was selected to carry the

Olympic flame The Olympic flame is a Olympic symbols, symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony s ...

through

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, for the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alder, Jim 1940 births Living people Athletes from Glasgow Sportspeople from Morpeth, Northumberland Scottish male long-distance runners British male long-distance runners Scottish male marathon runners British male marathon runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games European Athletics Championships medalists Members of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics