Alton runs 84km in two days

Last weekend saw local Alton Melville, 70, run two marathons in two days, completing both the Rotorua (September 17) and Tauranga (September 18) marathons — about 84km.

Competing in the over 70s category, Alton completed the Rotorua course in 6 hours 31 minutes, placing 18th out of 24 finishers, while he finished the Tauranga marathon in 6 hours 4 minutes, coming third in his category.

“Rotorua is quite a hard marathon because it’s quite hilly around the back of the lake,” says Alton.

“I did a lot of training beforehand on the Gold Coast, as we went over to see our daughter.”

Alton did his training on a 7km course and says that some days it was colder there than it is here.

“I did some training at the gym before I went, on the treadmill and then around Lake Ngāroto.

“At the Gold Coast I did 20km, 25km and then 17km twice.

“Then I did 31.37km and that was my peak.

“I then did another 31km — two lots of 31km, two days apart.”

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.

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 has since completed 22 races (28 total).