Jim Peters (athlete)

Peters became the British 6 miles champion after winning the British AAA Championships title at the 1946 AAA Championships.^[1][2] The following year Peters became the British 10 miles champion at the 1947 AAA Championships.^[3]

Peters stepped up in distance and began to race marathons, which brought significant success. He won both the 1951^[4] and 1952 AAA marathon titles in Birmingham and London respectively and at the latter broke the world record by recording 2:20:42.2.^[5]

In 1953 at the Polytechnic Marathon, a point-to-point race from Windsor to Chiswick, West London, Peters broke the world record again and later the same year, he was the first runner to complete a marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes, clocking on an out-and-back course at the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands. He also won his third consecutive AAA marathon title in 1953.^[3]

On 26 June 1954, Peters won his fourth AAA title, which was also his fourth world record, setting a time of 2:17:39.4.^[3] Then in July he represented the England team^[6] at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver.^[7] On 31 July, Peters won a bronze medal in the 6 miles event before taking on the marathon just 7 days later and despite previously carrying a foot injury.^[8]

In the Commonwealth Games marathon Peters reached the stadium in first place, believed to be 17 minutes ahead of the next runner and 10 minutes ahead of the Games record^[9] but he collapsed seven times (one of the times laying down for over 2 minutes) and he eventually failed to finish, being disqualified after collapsing into the arms of an official.^[10] After covering just 200 metres in 11 minutes, he was stretchered away and never raced again. "I was lucky not to have died that day", he later said.^[11]

His games kit, including plimsolls and the special medal which following the games the Duke of Edinburgh sent to Jim inscribed "To a most gallant marathon runner." were given to the Sports Hall of Fame, Vancouver, in 1967 for exhibition.^{[citation needed]}

He served as president of the then recently formed Road Runners Club from 1955–1956. After retiring from competitive athletics, Peters worked as an optician in Mitcham, Surrey, and Chadwell Heath, Essex.^{[citation needed]}