{"id":118811,"date":"2026-04-24T05:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/ill-keep-doing-it-as-long-as-i-can-harry-newton-london-marathons-oldest-runner-at-88\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:00:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:00:32","slug":"ill-keep-doing-it-as-long-as-i-can-harry-newton-london-marathons-oldest-runner-at-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/ill-keep-doing-it-as-long-as-i-can-harry-newton-london-marathons-oldest-runner-at-88\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ll keep doing it as long as I can\u2019: Harry Newton, London Marathon\u2019s oldest runner at 88"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A<\/span>t a time when running has never been more popular with generation Z, one man is proving that it is not just a young person\u2019s game. The oldest athlete in this Sunday\u2019s London Marathon<\/a> is 88-year-old Harry Newton \u2013 whose remarkable running journey only started by chance when he was 57.<\/p>\n

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Since then Newton, a retired grocer from Macclesfield, has completed 31 marathons, including 21 at London and another by jogging 461 times around his garden during lockdown. And he has a simple message for nervous first timers this weekend. \u201cDon\u2019t try to run too quickly, and keep a steady pace,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd make sure your bowels are empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Newton speaks his wife, Phyllis, who is a sprightly 85, laughs in amusement. What does she make of his unlikely journey? \u201cShe always tells me I\u2019m daft, and she wishes I wasn\u2019t doing it, but she\u2019s been a terrific supporter,\u201d he says. \u201cShe will be there this year, along with around 20 members of my family. And this year I will be in the VIP area \u2013 I get to choose when I start and there are private toilets as well!\u201d<\/p>\n

Newton\u2019s late-blooming started by chance when he attended a meeting of the Northern Council of Grocers in the Lake District. \u201cThere was a chap from Mars confectionery who spoke to us about the London Marathon<\/a>,\u201d he says. \u201cHe said if anybody would like to raise some funds for the Grocers\u2019 charity, I might be able to get you an entry form.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days later a form arrived in the post and, after getting the nod, Newton laced up a pair of running shoes for the first time in the autumn of 1994. \u201cWhen you\u2019re on the farm, you tend to live the life of a farmer,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd similarly as a grocer, you also work long hours. So I wasn\u2019t a runner at all before that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Harry Newton\u2019s marathon advice is not to run too quickly and to keep a steady pace.<\/span> Photograph: Karwai Tang\/WireImage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Training, it is fair to say, didn\u2019t go quite to plan. The longest run Newton did before his first marathon was just nine miles because he had knee issues. And when he got an X-ray a week beforehand, his doctor delivered a blunt message.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said to me \u2018although it\u2019s not unusual for a man of your age, there is some wear and tear in that knee, and I do not see it standing up to any marathon\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I had a couple of thousands of pounds sponsorship riding on it, so I thought I would give it a go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat first one was slow, but I got round in five hours and 10 minutes by running and walking,\u201d he adds. \u201cAlthough I hurt all over for about a month afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

By then the marathon bug had hit and it never let go \u2013 including running one in his back garden. \u201cThat was when we weren\u2019t allowed to go out much,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I thought the answer was to run around the garden. I strode it out to about 110 yards. And I just kept going round in circles until my watch told me I\u2019d done enough. I think it was 461 times.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Harry Newton is a late bloomer who ran 461 times around his garden for a marathon distance during lockdown.<\/span> Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Newton\u2019s personal best at London is three hours, 52 minutes and 30 seconds \u2013 set when he was 70 years old. He will be slower this year, but last September ran Morecambe in five hours and 56 minutes, well inside the six hours and 10 minutes limit to get a Good For Age place for over 85s.<\/p>\n

Like any runner he is determined to give it his very best on Sunday and will take to the start line wearing a pair of Saucony super shoes, which normally retail for \u00a3280.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a sale in a local shop in Wilmslow a month or two ago. So I grabbed a pair.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world championship bronze medallist Julia Paternain, who is also racing in the same shoes on Sunday, says she is amazed by Newton\u2019s achievements. \u201cThe fact that he\u2019s running a marathon at 88 is just so inspiring,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s really cool that I\u2019ll be in the same company as him.\u201d<\/p>\n

And whatever happens, Newton isn\u2019t finished yet. \u201cA few years ago, I probably wouldn\u2019t have thought to still be running at 88, but I\u2019ll keep doing it as long as I feel as if I can,\u201d he says. \u201cI will be slower every year, won\u2019t it? But that\u2019s age. And you can\u2019t do a lot about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he goes, he has a final nugget for those of a certain age who are inspired to follow in his footsteps: see a physio and get strengthening exercises to stay injury-free \u2013 and don\u2019t be afraid to give it a go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found that very helpful,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd for the last five or six years, touch wood, I have been pretty clear. Sometimes you do go out and you think, \u2018Oh, this knee\u2019s pinging a bit this morning\u2019, but you run a mile or so and you forget all about it, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At a time when running has never been more popular with generation Z, one man is proving that it is not just a young person\u2019s game. The oldest athlete in this Sunday\u2019s London Marathon is 88-year-old Harry Newton \u2013 whose remarkable running journey only started by chance when he was 57. Since then Newton, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}