Going the distance! 'OUR SECRET TO A LONG MARRIAGE'

The fitness-focused couple keep each other on their toes!

- Steve Landells

A full and active life has been at the heart of the 53-year marriage between real estate king Garth Barfoot and his wife Judy.

From their early days tramping together, to completing the Rotorua Marathon and later successfully taking on the challenge of the Coast to Coast, activity has sustained the 87-year-old grandparents throughout their rich and full lives.

Now living at Bert Sutcliffe Retirement Village in Beach Haven on the North Shore, the pair are still just as active.

Garth – who for six decades worked for Barfoot and Thompson, the real estate agency cofounded by his father – is in training for the 2024 Rotorua Marathon in May, followed by the New York City Marathon in November. Meanwhile, Judy regularly walks and swims.

Given their shared passions, it was perhaps inevitable the pair first met as members of the Alpine Sports Club, although back then, tramping was not Judy’s preferred pursuit.

“Garth was more of a tramper than me,” says Judy. “I only joined the tramping club because my best friend belonged to the club. I couldn’t see the point in walking.”

Garth, who has just completed his daily walk when the Weekly visits, adds, “Judy could ski better than me and I could tramp better than her. She didn’t want to know me on the ski field!”