Whittaker smashes his 10km best in Chichester (From Echo)

Whittaker smashes his 10km best in Chichester

5:20pm Friday 10th February 2012 in Sport By Ryan Goad

PAUL Whittaker ran a superb personal best 10km in finishing third in a high-class field in Chichester.

Whittaker, 22, from Southend, clocked a time of 29m 40s, shaving more than 30 seconds off his previous best.

Such was the quality of the field on the south coast, Whittaker’s mark was the third fastest in the country this year, with the two men who beat him – Ben Whitby and Chris Powner – ahead of him.

In a remarkable race that went ahead as Chichester avoided the weekend’s heavy snow fall, Whittaker ran 14m 30s for the final 5km and a blistering 2m 40s last kilometre as he came agonisingly close to a win.

He was chasing the eventual winner Whitby hard in the closing stages, but could not quite close the gap, with Powner nipping past him in the final sprint for the line.

“There was quite a big group of runners even up until about 8km,” said Whittaker.

“Then four of us went away after that. I was chasing the leader hard in the closing stages and was just pipped on the line.

“At the 8km point I thought I might just get under 30mins. It was slightly downhill to the finish, but I think I was concentrating so hard to catch the leader that pulled me along.

“I was pretty much all out for the last 800m.

“That’s the benefits of competing in a quality field.”

Whittaker, who will not be runing in the English Cross-Country Championships in two weeks, is now hoping his fine winter form will provide the base for a successful summer season.

“They say you can go 30 seconds faster on the track over 10km so I’ll definitely be looking to get under 29 minutes this summer.”