Chipchase was born in
Hebburn, County Durham, in the north of England. He rose to prominence at national level as a
junior in 1969 when he won the
English Schools Championships, AAA Junior Championships and the British Schools international match. He retained all of those titles for following year. His international championship debut came at the
1970 European Athletics Junior Championships, where he placed eighth with a mark of . His first senior hammer throw title at the North of England Athletics Championships was achieved while he was still a teenager in 1970. He would go on to take that title six times over his career. He set a British junior record of in the 1971 season. This stood for eight years until it was beaten by
Martin Girvan. He continued to compete while entering
higher education and was a three-time champion consecutively at the Universities Athletic Union Championships from 1971 to 1973. At the
1973 AAA Championships he placed third behind Britain's most dominant throwers and 1972 Olympians,
Howard Payne and
Barry Williams. Chipchase's career peaked in the 1974 season. He was chosen to represent England at the
1974 British Commonwealth Games and held off both Howard Payne and
Peter Farmer to win the
gold medal. He improved the previous
games record three time during the competition, ending with a best of . That August he set a personal best of in
Edinburgh – a mark which placed him among Britain's best ever throwers at that point, behind Barry Williams,
Paul Dickenson and
Chris Black. He competed at the
1974 European Athletics Championships, coming tenth in a field dominated by Soviet and German athletes. He made only one major international appearance after 1974 – a sixth-place finish at the
1978 Commonwealth Games. He was competitive domestically until the early 1980s, and his achievements include two titles at the Inter-Counties Championships (1978, 1980) and a third place at the
1981 UK Athletics Championships. Chipchase married
Dorothy Swinyard, also an English Commonwealth Games representative. ==International competitions==