Arthur Newton (runner)

Arthur Francis Hamilton Newton (born 20 May 1883, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England died 7 September 1959, Hillingdon, Middlesex, England [M. A. Bryant, ‘Newton, Arthur Francis Hamilton (1883–1959)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004] ) was an endurance athlete. He won the Comrades Marathon five times.

His great legacy is that when he started running seriously in 1922 he quickly dismissed the then current ideas on long distance training and invented (or perhaps re-invented) the concept of high mileage training at relatively slow speeds (later called Long Slow Distance). His win in the 1923 Comrades Marathon is one of the great athletic feats.

Background

In 1901 Newton travelled to South Africa to join his brother and worked as a teacher. After returning to England in 1909 he decided to settle in South Africa permanently and in 1911 acquired a farm in Natal. During the Great War Newton served in the Natal Light Horse as a dispatch rider. On returning to his farm he found it in a state of neglect and after some disagreements with the government decided to generate publicity for his case by running the 1922 Comrades Marathon which had been first held the previous year.

Although he had run when he was younger Arthur Newton restarted his running career on 1 January 1922 at the age of 38. Just 20 weeks later he competed in his first Comrades Marathon.

Comrades Marathon

The 1922 race was the first up version of the race. Just before Camperdown he took the lead from Purcell of Greytown and won the race in a time of 8:40:00. [Tim Noakes M.D. (1991) "Lore of running, 3rd edition"]

The next year, 1923, he had trained properly and won by 52 minutes in a time of 6:56:07, beating the previous record by over 2 hours. Only by chance were two race officials at the finish. They recorded the time of the nearby Post Office clock.

In 1924, an up year, he won by 75 minutes in a time of 6:58:22. After this race he returned to England and ran the London to Brighton course in 5:53:43 beating the previous record by over an hour. When the London to Brighton race started as an annual event in 1951 the trophy for the winner was called the 'Arthur Newton Cup'.

In 1925 he lowered the record again with a time of 6:24:54. 1926 was a poor year when he finished second in a time of 7:02:00. 1927 was another winning year with a time of 6:40:56.

Rhodesia

Although he had now gained the publicity he wanted he did not receive the compensation he thought he deserved and in 1925 decided to move to Rhodesia. Lack of money meant he began the 770 mile trip on foot. However some newspapers gave him publicity and money was raised for him. In Rhodesia he founded the Bulawayo Harriers and set amateur records for 60 and 100 miles.

Later Races

In early 1928 Newton broke the 100 mile record on the Bath to London road in a time of 14:22:10. Later that year he began competing as a professional and ran in races in America, Canada and Britain. In his last race in 1934 he broke the Bath to London 100 mile record again with a time of 14:06:00 at the age of 51.

References

See also

* Comrades Marathon