But he will take away a precious memory from his time in Dunedin this week competing at the Masters Games.
The American college professor is competing in the indoor rowing and he started a raft of erg events yesterday with an impressive time of 7min 28.5sec over 2000m.
Turner, 67, is just a lightweight rower, but there is nothing light about his efforts.
He has run more than 50 marathons over the past 20 years, including at least one in every continent, carried out rowing marathons, works for a Fortune 500 company and also teaches at one of the top 25 liberal arts universities in the United States.
‘‘Unfortunately, my wife [Lyn] died last year but I will get to sprinkle some of her ashes over St Clair Beach this week.’’
Turner turned to marathons later in life, finding time to run a marathon in every continent over 20 years.
‘I was just looking through a running magazine and it said you could run a marathon and only run three times a week. So that suited me down to the ground. It showed you it could be done.’’
Turner, who is an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, working in data analytics and cyber crime, has tattoos on his right leg, reminding him of his running.
In the middle is a tattoo of a runner — modelled on an 8m high metal statue in Frankfurt in Germany, where he ran. They are surrounded by the symbols of the seven continents — including the Eiffel Tower, an American eagle and a penguin.
