Nat second in half marathon all-time list

The former middle-distance specialist posted 79min. 16sec. at Sunday’s Manchester Half Marathon, which was good for 12th of 8,754 women on the morning.

But it stacks up even more impressively among Guernsey’s elite. Only Louise Perrio has gone faster, having run her record of 78-12 at the same event six years prior, with Sarah Roe now relegated to third in the all-time list.

Being a relative newcomer to 13.1-mile racing, Whitty’s performance stood as a personal best of more than 2min. It was also over 4min. faster than her winning run at last month’s Butterfield Half.

‘I felt as though I was in PB shape, but as always it feels I’m balancing Achilles niggles so I don’t like to get my hopes up too much,’ she said.

‘The 80min. barrier was always a target in the distance but I thought I might sneak under it at best, so to run 79-16 was quite unexpected. I’m happy.’

Injury has been a recurring issue for Whitty, leading her to miss the home Island Games last year.

And so she is exercising restraint when it comes to challenging Perrio’s record.

‘A few people have mentioned Louise’s Island record, funnily.

‘But I’m going to give that the respect it deserves and get my head down for some, hopefully consistent training.

‘Consistency is my major target through the winter, so I’ll be taking things as they come with no real set targets at this moment in time – just to keep enjoying it.’

Having enjoyed ideal weather and a buzzing route based near Old Trafford, she added: ‘The conditions on the day were great, I had family out supporting, there’s great support on the course in general and I was there with a great group of Guernsey runners, so it all spurred me on and had an impact on my performance.’

James Priest had set the pace for the touring Sarnians, crushing the 70min. barrier in the process.

The Island Games half-marathoner ran a significant personal best of 69-36 to finish 28th overall – not bad for a 18,364-strong field.

This time also lifts him to seventh on the Guernsey men’s all-time list.

The London-based Andrew McArthur also excelled in posting an Island Games B standard of 74-02, another 50sec. improvement from his breakthrough performance on Guernsey soil last month.

Veteran-40 runners Steve Bienvenu (75-36) and Rich Hann (79-01) both posted their fastest times in several years.

Meanwhile, there were significant PBs from London-based Chris Way (80-24) and Dogbreaker winner Ben Langlois (80-51).

Sarah Eagles joined in the PB party with an Island Games B standard run of 86-02.

Having slashed over 2min. from her previous best, the driven veteran is now up to 17th on the women’s all-time list.