Peters became the
British 6 miles champion after winning the British
AAA Championships title at the
1946 AAA Championships. The following year Peters became the
British 10 miles champion at the
1947 AAA Championships. Peters stepped up in distance and began to race marathons, which brought significant success. He won both the 1951 and 1952
AAA marathon titles in Birmingham and London respectively and at the latter broke the world record by recording 2:20:42.2. 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. at the
1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. ==Achievements==