Runner Garth Barfoot the Oldest in NY Marathon

Eighty-seven-year-old Aucklander Garth Barfoot was the oldest participant at this year’s New York City Marathon.

Barfoot, who has run dozens of marathons, including last year’s London Marathon, said this was his first time running New York’s.

Barfoot’s training regimen has been fairly straightforward: daily runs to his favourite coffee shop and back home.

“It’s a decent distance from the retirement home,” Barfoot said.

Barfoot didn’t really get into running until his 50s, inspired by his wife, Judy.

These days, though, she doesn’t always support his exercise regimen, he says.

“‘Must you run every day, Garth?’” Barfoot said his wife says, adding, “‘You don’t have to do that – this is a retirement home.’”

Original article by Nadav Gavrielov, The New York Times, November 5, 2023.

Photo by Natalie Keyssar.