WILLIARD CHINHANHU believes his new course record for the Healthspan Half-Marathon will last for a year – until he beats it again. The hugely impressive Poole Runners athlete shattered Bill Foster’s long-standing record of 64min. 52sec. set back in 1990 by almost one-and-a-half minutes as he stopped the clock at

63-25.

And it was with a wry grin afterwards that he suggested he still had plenty in the tank.

‘Conditions were perfect. I enjoyed the weather and the course is flat,’ he said.

‘After two miles I was feeling good and I was a bit worried that I would beat it by too much because next year I need to come back and beat it again.

‘When at 10 miles I looked at the clock, I felt I was on record pace and that I could keep it going.’

Having past Bordeaux Harbour, just short of four miles, in 18-16, Chinhanhu maintained his extraordinary pace to go through the turn at Sandy Hook in

31-02.

His nearest challengers at that point were more than three minutes in arrears and the exiled Zimbabwean admitted that that made his record attempt more difficult.

‘When you are running on your own, you do not know how fast you are running,’ said the overall festival winner.

But Chinhanhu continued to stretch his lead over the second half of the course and by the end he finished more than five-and-a-half minutes ahead of runner-up Matt Ashton, who also produced an excellent run.

‘I think that this is one of the best courses in the UK and if you had two or three runners that can push each other, the record could go down to 60 minutes, or even under,’ said the winner.

The women’s race also produced a new course record as Susie Bush cut the previous mark set by Sally Ellis in 1989 by 47sec.

Bush’s time of 74-55 was all the more remarkable as it was her debut over the distance.

‘It’s a fantastic time. The conditions were absolutely beautiful and it is a super course – I felt so comfortable out there,’ she said.

‘I have never run a half marathon before and I am just raring for the next one now.

‘It has been an absolutely brilliant weekend and I will definitely be coming again,’ added the festival’s number one female.

She was followed home by her Aldershot, Farnham and District teammate Steph Twell, who at just 17 set a new British under-20 record of 77-27 in her first attempt at the distance.

The leading Guernsey runners were Steve Dawes, who came home sixth overall in 71-20 while Louise Perrio was third woman to cross the line in 81-47.