.jpg)
Whitehead breaks world record for half-marathon
Monday, 22 February 2010
By Tom Degun
February 22 - Britain’s Richard Whitehead (pictured) destroyed the amputee half marathon world record in Wokingham as he recorded a time of 1 hour 17min and 45sec over the 13.1 mile distance.
Whitehead, a double amputee from birth who represented the Britain ice sledge hockey team at the Turin 2006 Winter Paralympics, is trained by able bodied Olympic marathon runner Liz Yelling but gets zero funding from UK Athletics.
Following his world record time in his first competitive race of the season, the 33-year-old from Nottinghamshire admitted that he was slightly surprised with his early season form after a difficult winter training period.
Whitehead told insideworldparasport: "It’s been a bit of a tough winter in terms of training for me because of the weather in this country.
"It has been pretty tricky to go running because as a double leg amputee, it is particularly dangerous to go running in snow and ice.
"But coming into the event last weekend, I felt fit and strong and I wanted to set a good bench mark for the rest of the season.
"I actually started off quite slowly because I had a few guys in front of me that were not running at a particularly fast pace.
"But once I got round them, I got into a good rhythm and I was delighted when I crossed the line and realised that I had broken the amputee half marathon world record.
"My big goals for this season are the Rotterdam marathon and the Chicago marathon so breaking the half marathon world record on Sunday is a great start in preparation for those races later this year."
Whitehead is also the amputee marathon world record holder and the first ever amputee to break the three-hour barrier over the 26.2 mile distance after he produced a time of 2:56:45 in Rome last year.
However, for the ambitious Whitehead, competing at London 2012 is his long term goal.
Whitehead explained: "When I first started marathon running in 2004, it took me over five hours to run 26 miles at the New York marathon.
"If you look at the times I am running now, I am running over two hours faster which is tremendous.
"But I don’t want to go to 2012 just to make up the numbers.
"I want to earn my place and make it very difficult for UK Athletics not to select me."
Whitehead also claimed that he hope that his achievements can inspire other to do their best in whatever they do regardless of whether it is in sport or not.
He said: "I really hope I can be an example for both disabled and able bodied kids alike and demonstrate that no matter what hand you’re dealt in life, it shouldn’t hold you back."
To find out more Whitehead visit his website by clicking here.
Contact the writer of this story at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
| Comments |
|
