Arthur Newton has been described as the most phenomenal
distance runner the world has ever known.
Arthur Newton was born on 20 May 1883 at Weston-Super-Mare
in Somerset, England. At the age of 18 he arrived in South Africa in 1902 and
he worked as a clerk, school teacher, private tutor and farmer.
It was only at the age of 38 (in 1922) that Newton went
out and ran 2 miles (3.2 km) and in his own words he was abominably stiff for
two days! But, within a few months after this “2 mile race”, on 24 May 1992,
Newton entered his first Comrades Marathon between Pietermaritzburg and Durban,
and took honours in 8 hours and 40 minutes!
The next year (1923) he ran his second Comrades marathon
and incredibly he took off 2 hours and 3 minutes off his own record of the
previous year.
At this point Arthur Newton was on a role: He won the
Comrades again in 1924, set a new London-to-Brighton record of 5 hours, 53
minutes and 43 seconds and set new world records for several other
long-distance races.
In 1925 he won his 4th straight Comrades marathon.
Unfortunately, during the same time he was experiencing some personal financial
difficulties and decided to go to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) to try his luck there. He
was a person of high calibre: He could not afford the train fare to Rhodesia
and therefore he walked the entire distance of about 1 000 km travelling mostly
at night!
In 1927 he returned to South Africa to win the Comrades
marathon for the 5th but unfortunately also the final time. In the same year he
set new 60-mile and 100-mile records.
The cherry on top was when he ran 152 miles and 540 yards (254.1 km) in
24 hours in Hamilton, Ontario. This was a world record that stood for 22 years
against his name.
Arthur Newton ran his last race in 1934. He could retire
from international long-distance running on a high – he set a new world record
for the 100-mile race in England.
Indeed a formidable athlete.
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