Whitehead's earlier career was a swimming teacher at Clifton Leisure Centre in
Nottingham. He is a former ice
sledge hockey player, and competed for the GB team at the
2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin. At the
2010 Chicago Marathon, Whitehead broke his previous world record for athletes with lower-limb amputations, with a time of 2:42:52. That time was bested by 28 seconds by
Marko Cheseto at the
2019 Boston Marathon. Whitehead was unable to compete in the marathon at
London 2012 as there was no category for leg amputees, and was refused permission by the
IPC to compete against upper-body amputees and so had to turn to sprinting to compete at the 2012
Paralympics, where he won the gold medal in the 200m T42 Athletics event with a world record time of 24.38 seconds. Whitehead was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the
2013 New Year Honours for services to athletics. Whitehead's name was added to the Nottingham City Transport bus service "Pathfinder 100" on 18 September 2012; the bus links his home village of
Lowdham with Southwell and Nottingham. He was appointed the first-ever patron of Sarcoma UK, the bone- and soft-tissue cancer charity, on 28 January 2013. On 21 April 2013, he competed in the London Marathon coming in 23rd place with a time of 3:15:53. At the
2016 Rio Paralympics, Whitehead won gold in the
T42 200 metres and silver in the
T42 100 metres, which he shared with
Denmark's
Daniel Wagner after the pair finished in a dead heat for second. In 2013, he launched his fundraising campaign, "Richard Whitehead Runs Britain", to run from
John O'Groats to
Land's End. raising money for Sarcoma UK and Scope. At the
2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Whitehead won silver in the
T61 200 metres. In 2022, Whitehead took part in Channel 4's
Celebrity Hunted. He was caught 5th, after falling over a gate, and subsequently lying low in a field. His teammate
Iwan Thomas successfully made it to the extraction point to win. On 13 October 2024, Whitehead set the world record for the Fastest Double Amputee Marathon at the
Bank of America Chicago Marathon with a time of 2 hours 41 minutes and 36 seconds. On 3 December 2024, Whitehead had a leading role in a three part Docu-Series by Prime Video called
Dare to Defy. He co-hosted the show with
Adele Roberts tackling the topics of inclusion and diversity in sport. In January 2025, Richard announced that he would complete 20 marathons throughout the year around the world, to mark and celebrate his very first marathon in New York in 2004. Richard will finish his 20 marathons across the world in New York in November 2025, which will also be his 100th marathon overall. RichardWhiteheadMBE - Athlete, Marathon Runner, diversity champion, Motivational Speaker ==See also==