Hi Phil,

Find attached a review of the Arthur Newton book.

The book gives many insights into the develop of the history of the sport -
the comment has been made, “Newton made the Comrades, and the Comrades made
Newton” – and of course he also encouraged the revival of the London to
Brighton as well.

Percy Cerruty was a good friend of Newton’s as was Mike McNamara – both
members of AURA’s Hall of Fame.  The book will give new insights into the
lives of both men, particularly McNamara and also his partner, Herb Hedeman
[yet another Hall of Famer]

I hope the Ultralegends is able to publish the  review of the book. It would
be
good for Ultra runners and enthusiasts  to be able get a good insight into
the development of
the sport – Newton’s role in many ways was pivotal in the way it developed.
He pioneered
the 100 miles on the road, thus opening the way for the modern trail 100
milers.

He organised and won the first of the modern 24 hour races in Hamilton in
1931, thus creating
the vital stepping stone between the pedestrians and the post-war sport. He
then encouraged the
organisation of the  first modern track 24 hour to break his record – and
the rest is history.

His writings inspired the post-war generation of ultrarunners who used his
training ideas. Professor Tim Noakes, who writes the
Foreward in the book, bases much of his monumental book on marathon and
ultra training, Lore of Running,
on the basics laid down by Newton.

Feel free to use this email as well as Ian Champion’s review to make as many
people as possible aware of the book.
An easy read, it is accessible to those whose first language is not English.

Best,

Andy

On sale from 10^th August 2009

‘Tea With Mr Newton’ – 100,000 Miles the longest ‘Protest March’ in history

by Rob Hadgraft

Published by Desert Island Books

Foreword by Prof. Tim Noakes (author of ‘Lore of Running’)

224-page illustrated hardback

ISBN 978-1-905328-64-2   Price £18.99

Order from: www.desertislandbooks.com or

Amazon.co.uk, on or after 10^th August, or Pre-order now via any bookshop

“At last the definitive biography of the late truly great ARTHUR NEWTON.

Arthur Newton a ‘self-taught’ runner became an ‘ultra-distance’ running legend.   In his later years he became guru to many international runners who were happy to ‘take tea’ with him at his home in Ruislip, London.   He was a very modest and private man.  He always avoided publicity and often never revealed physical or medical injury problems he had during his competitive years.   Some of his private life he does mention in his books but now at last we have a far more detailed version.   It makes fasinating reading.

After very lengthy and detailed research, experienced author Rob Hadgraft launches his fourth book about a ‘running legend’.   He reveals many previously ‘unpublished’ facts about his every day life style, relevant to his training and racing.  He also records previously little known or published reports on some of the events Arthur took part in as well as illustrations.

I recommend this as a very readable book and a ‘must have’ read for anyone with any ‘historical’ interest in the people and the races which have made up our chosen sport of ‘road-running’ ”.

Ian Champion (Road Runners Club Chairman

Original story

Aug 4, 1930

From Fletcher’s Field, Montreal, over a 500-mi. irregular course of roads through Victoriaville. Quebec, Ste. Anne de la Perade, Joliette, and back to Montreal’s baseball stadium runners plodded last week in a relay race. Eighteen thousand spectators cheered the winners. Swathed in wraps, Arthur Newton of Rhodesia, South Africa, and Peter Gavuzzi of Southampton, England, hurried away to get some rest. Their total time for the 500-mi. course was 48 hr. 4 min., but they had been fresh enough to do the final lap of 26 mi., in the fast time of 2 hr. 18 min. 40 sec., 4 min. 50 sec. ahead of the U. S. team of Joie Ray and Johnny Salo. Marathon followers took due note of the victory, recalling that small, wiry Gavuzzi had run two years ago in C. C. Pyle’s Bunion Derby and had done well enough.

Arthur Newton’s neighbors in South Africa remember only vaguely why he started running. It was some grudge he had against the government. Kaffirs had been given holdings too near his farm. He protested, but the government paid little attention. Through months of talking and brooding the thought of winning that case became a mania eating up all his other thoughts. By degrees it developed a corollary. He felt that to get the hearing he wanted he must attract attention, make himself famous by some remarkable exploit or else hurt himself so badly and spectacularly that the British Government in South Africa and the whole world would listen when he told what a spectacular injustice had been inflicted upon him.

Arthur Newton had never done any running. He was 40—already past the age for marathoners—yet the plan he decided on was to become the greatest runner in the world. One day he began to run around his farm. Round the fence he went, twice a day for as long as he could keep it up, in the morning and at night. The Kaffirs who had been allowed too near stared at the thin, sweating man running clumsily in his farm clothes under the glaring sun. He sent to Durban for shoes and shorts. In two years his fame had gone beyond the district and his running had improved. Nobody laughed when he asked for timekeepers in an attempt to break a world’s record. Starting one hot July morning in 1923 from the Agricultural Show Grounds in Durban he broke the world’s record for 50 mi. in 5 hr. 53 min. 5 sec. As soon as he had finished and found people gathered around him he began to talk about that matter of the Kaffirs.

Arthur Newton ran 20 miles a day to keep training. He wore leather socks next his skin. Every hour he drank a half-pint glass of lemonade containing eight teaspoonfuls of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, and cracked ice. Other records: London to Brighton—5 hr. 53 min. 43 sec., 1924; 100 mi. at Bulawayo, S. F.—14 hrs. 43 min., 1927.

From The Argus – 15 Nov 1924

From The Argus – 7 April, 1928

Book review about Arthur Newton book

Various articles

From Wikipedia

Arthur Newton (runner)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Francis Hamilton Newton (born 20 May 1883, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England died 7 September 1959, Hillingdon, Middlesex, England^[1]) 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.^[2]

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Comrades Marathon