John Whetton

The son of a Nottinghamshire County cross-country runner, John Whetton also took up cross-country at the age of 12 at Brunts Grammar School, Mansfield, in order to get out of playing football, which he hated. He later joined his father´s club, Sutton-in-Ashfield Harriers, and the young Whetton went on to become one of Britain’s best mile/1500 metres runners in the 1960s - a far cry from his first title: the Mansfield Schools´ egg and spoon race at the age of six!

At the age of 17 Whetton won the 1959 English Schools title, and after going to Manchester University he regularly trained with Ron Hill. Whetton finished fifth in the 1963 British Universities´ Cross-country Championship, and that year went to Brazil for the Summer Universiade as the British Universities´ mile champion and won the 1500 metres gold medal. Also in 1963, Whetton won the first of six consecutive AAA indoor mile/1500 titles. He also won the indoor 1000 yards in 1964, and in 1968 won his only outdoor AAA title, the mile. Whetton never lost a 1500 or mile race indoors in Europe, and that included winning the European Indoor 1500 title three years in succession 1966-68 at Dortmund, Praha (Prague), and Madrid respectively. He also won the European outdoor 1500 metres title at Athina (Athens) in 1969, when he set his personal best 3:39.45.

Whetton went to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and was a surprise finalist, finishing eighth of nine. Four years later, however, he qualified for the final in third place behind Jim Ryun and Kip Keino, the eventual silver and gold medallists respectively. Whetton finished outside a medal place in fifth. Whetton´s last major final was at the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games when he finished fifth in the 1500 metres won by Keino.

Whetton graduated in biology from Manchester University and followed that with a post-graduate course at Loughborough College, which eventually enabled him to combine his two specialist subjects as he became a lecturer in Physical Education at Nottingham College of Education and was also responsible for the Anatomy and Physiology department.

In 1981 Whetton inaugurated the Nottingham Marathon following the success of the London race, in which he completed in two hours 22 minutes in 1983 - at the age of 42. When he was 16, Whetton became a local hero when he dived into a local reservoir to rescue one of two men whose van had left the road and ended in the reservoir before sinking.

Personal Best: 1500 – 3:39.45 (1969).