Former Giles, Giles & Fripp, King Crimson and 21st Century Schizoid Band bass player Peter Giles has been unmasked as a Gold Medal-winning athlete at 80 years of age!
In a recent interview with The Times, Giles, who appeared on King Crimson's second album, 1970's In The Wake Of Poseidon, has revealed how he has been a competitor in Masters Athletics, the term for competitors over the age of 35.
In The Times interview, writer Simon Usborne reveals that Giles broke the British 5km road record for his age group in Battersea last December with a time of 22min 29sec, while at last August's World Masters Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Giles was in the octagenarian team who broke the British record in the 4x100m relay. Giles would go on to pick up five gold medals and a silver, all in the M80 category for men aged 80 to 84 at the event.
“What a memorable championship,” says Giles, who began competing at 44. “I had come from schoolboy cross country winner to world champion in only 69 years. For half my life I’ve wanted to find out what I was capable of as a runner. It’s been a strange but happy experience."
Currently in his sights are his favourite distance, 1,500m, and the 5km and 10km track records, both set by 80-year-old Stephen Charlton back in 2007 and the 1hr 41min British half-marathon time set 30 years ago by the Scottish engineer Gordon Porteous, also 80.
“If you stop moving, you’ve got no chance. Most runners overtrain. I find that the older I get the simpler everything gets. I don’t complicate anything." Although he admits that he doesn't favour the standard athlete's warm-down after a race, laughing, "I usually go and have a coffee and a cigar.”
Musically Giles also remains active, with his wife Yasmin, and you can discover more about their activities via their website.
