‘I’ll keep doing it as long as I can’: Harry Newton, London Marathon’s oldest runner at 88

Retired grocer from Macclesfield is proof that running is not just a young person’s game after only starting his journey at the age of 57

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’s game. The oldest athlete in this Sunday’s London Marathon is 88-year-old Harry Newton – whose remarkable running journey only started by chance when he was 57.

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. “Don’t try to run too quickly, and keep a steady pace,” he says. “And make sure your bowels are empty.”