BRITAIN’S most decorated long distance runner Mo Farah added another accomplishment to his CV on Saturday when he set a new two mile world record – and he did it with a little helping hand from a Canvey athlete.

Dale Clutterbuck was given the task of pacing Farah through the first 800m of his two miles at the Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham and he did exactly as he was asked, providing the platform for the double-Olympic champion to set a new world best of 8m 3.40s.

Clutterbuck, 23, said he is still pinching himself that he was able to play a small part in the world record and said it was a moment he will remember forever.

“It’s quite funny thinking about it,” said the former Castle View School pupil. “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I didn’t expect him to break the world record. I thought he would break the British record, but not the world record.”

Clutterbuck, a specialist over 800m and 1,500m, has been in top form this winter, setting a new personal best for 800m and winning the Southern Indoor Championships.

But he fell ill at the British Indoor Championships a week before the Birmingham Grand Prix and was knocked out of the heats of the 800m.

It was a setback for the Basildon AC athlete who had wanted to show his talent on the national stage.

But he received the perfect pick me-up on his way back home when he was asked if he could help Farah go for a new world record.

“Spencer Barden (event organiser) text me and said ‘I’ve got a job for you’ and I didn’t think it would be anything too big and then I got home and found out I would be pacing Mo Farah on a world record attempt!”

Clutterbuck admitted he was as nervous as he had known prior to Saturday’s race.

He knew it was his job to set the right tempo from the start of the race. If the race was off pace from the outset, it would have been highly unlikely Farah would have been able to pick it up in the later stages.

Plus there was the small matter of the thousands of people packed into the National Indoor Arena and the millions watching the meeting on BBC One.

“I was pretty nervous,” Clutterbuck laughed. “But I knew I had to control it because I had a job to do. But that’s hard when you walk out into that stadium and see all the people. I have never known an atmosphere like it.

“Then the TV cameras came out on the start line and I just couldn’t look up!”

Clutterbuck needn’t have worried. He did exactly what was asked of him, taking Farah through 800m in 2m 2s before stepping off the track.

“I hit it bang on,” he said. “I felt really good and was going to carry on to try to help him out for a bit longer, but Spencer Barden was track side and he told me to step off.

“It was an amazing experience. I was then stood there just willing Mo on.”

Clutterbuck said Farah – who had made headlines before the race for a Twitter spat with British rival Andy Vernon – was a “really good guy” who was appreciative of his efforts.

“At the hotel the night before we had a meal and he came down to see us. He is a really cool guy. He was just so relaxed, you would not have believed he was going for a world record the next day.”

Clutterbuck said he now wants to use his experience to boost his own individual career.

The healthy paycheck he earned for helping Farah smash the world record will be put towards going warm weather training in the coming months before he sets his sights on a breakthrough track season.

“That’s the plan,” he said. “Being part of an event like that only makes you want it more.”