Last year, at the tender age of 87, Barfoot had attempted to get through the same event but was forced to tap out of the race two-thirds of the way through due to conditions.
“I wasn’t enjoying it, it was getting colder,” Barfoot told the Herald at the time. “It’s winter, early spring and once the sun goes down it gets quite cold.”
He said he usually prepares for morning races and he didn’t bring the right clothes to run in the evening.
Throughout his hundreds of hours of racing, the indefatigable endurance athlete revealed what he thinks about on course.
“I think about doing all the things my Pilates instructor has told me to do, be tall.
“She says try to put your head through the roof of the tent - don’t slouch.”
Born in May 1936 - three months before the Berlin Olympics where New Zealander Jack Lovelock struck 1500m gold - Garth went on to carve out a hugely successful career in real estate.
However, in the second half of his life, he has embraced endurance sports.
In 1990 he completed the first of his 18 Rotorua Marathons - crossing the line alongside his wife, Judy - a race which provided many vivid memories.
Barfoot was believed to be the oldest runner in the history of the New York Marathon, however that tag is now understood to belong to former US Marine Jonathan Mendes, who completed the same course in 2016, at the age of 96.
