One more for the road: Alton still churning out marathons
Seventy-year-old Te Awamutu-based runner Alton Melville ran 139km over three events within six weeks, not to mention the countless training kilometres before and between.
To train, he ran around Lake Nga¯roto before heading down to North Canterbury.
“I went to Oxford because our son is farming down there and I ran every night from his house. The furtherest I tried to run was 42km, the length of a marathon, but the best I could do was 39. I just run until I drop, but I’ve never done that. I’ve come close to it, though,” says Alton.
“It’s a challenge. I like the challenge of it and I like all the health benefits from keeping fit.”
His first event this year was the Ian
Priest Memorial Hutt River Trail annual 60km ultra-marathon on January 15 near Wellington. Alton completed this in 9h 52m. “I was the heaviest I’ve been. So, every kilo I carry around the course is another kilo I’ve got to carry. So that was a bit of a handicap.”
The ultra-marathon starts at the Featherston end of the Remutaka Incline Rail Trail and follows the Rail Trail across the Remutaka Range until it meets the marathon course at Kaitoke, this then goes onto the last 42km of the ultra-marathon.
Fifteen days on, Alton took part in the 30th ASB Auckland Marathon which had been rescheduled from October 2021.
This marathon started at the Devonport Naval Base, before heading over the harbour bridge and finishing at Victoria Park.
Alton placed fifth in his age group with a time of 6h 20m.
Then at the end of February, Alton’s next challenge was the Auckland YMCA Marathon Club 8th Continent Marathon.
The track is eight laps of a 5.1km circuit around the Auckland Domain
Alton completed 37km of this in just over seven hours but didn’t complete the course.
“I also ran three marathons in three weeks between May 8 and May 22, 2021. At the Rotorua Marathon I got hypothermia with 5km to go, I staggered all over the footpath but still finished. They met me with a wheelchair as I crossed the finish line,” says Alton.
“At the AON Whitianga Marathon, the first half was off road and very steep, then the second half was flat.”
The third marathon in that time was the NZ Sotheby’s International Realty Hawke’s Bay Marathon.
A member of the Te Awamutu Marathon Clinic, Alton first joined the club in the 1980s, he enjoyed the challenge of marathon running and the camaraderie of belonging to the clinic.
During these years Alton’s best times included running four marathons at 2h 46m.
Alton had to stop because he had bad knees and after almost 25 years he had two knee replacements.
In 2018 he decided to give marathon running another go and he hasn’t stopped since.