Mark Kirwan takes the men’s honours as Rachel Gibson tops the women’s parkrun rankings on Saturday.

Mark Kirwan ran 16:06 at the Marlay parkrun to record the fastest men’s time across the island of Ireland on Saturday (January 12).

The Raheny Shamrock athlete, who clocked a marathon personal best of 2:17:37 last year in Dublin, was running at parkrun for the ninth time.

Rachel Gibson recorded the quickest women’s time on Saturday after a 17:27 run at the Belfast Victoria event. It was parkrun number 50 for the North Down runner and her time equals her previous best.

Pierce Geoghegan claimed the men’s number two spot after running 16:11 at the St Anne’s event in Dublin. It was the Liffey Valley runner’s first time at parkrun. Last November, Geoghegan helped his club to the team silver at Leinster Senior Cross Country Championships.

Irish masters athlete Annette Kealy is never too far away from the women’s top spot, but this week had to settle for second place after posting 18:44 at the Malahide parkrun.

The Raheny Shamrock athlete, who has a parkrun best of 17:45, was taking part in the Saturday morning event for the 76th time.

There was one unknown male runner who missed on the top 10 after a 16:35 run at the Marlay parkrun.

Belfast Victoria was the most represented parkrun with six runners overall, including North Down’s Craig McMeechan who led five men into this week’s top 10.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Marlay
Mark Kirwan, 16:06, Raheny Shamrock
2) parkrun: St Anne’s
Pierce Geoghegan, 16:11, Liffey Valley AC
3) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Craig McMeechan, 16:12, North Down AC
4) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Ciaran McKendry, 16:46, Annadale Striders
5=) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Francis Marsh, 16:49, North Down AC
5=) parkrun: Mungret
Kevin O’Grady, 16:49
7) parkrun: Malahide
Robert Frewen, 16:52, Raheny Shamrock
8) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Tommy Hughes 16:53, Termoneeny Running Club
9=) parkrun: Malahide
Eoin Callaghan, 16:54, Star of the Sea
9=) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Paul Carroll, 16:54, Annadale Striders

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Rachel Gibson, 17:27, North Down AC
2) parkrun: Malahide
Annette Kealy, 18:44, Raheny Shamrock
3) parkrun: Clonmel
Orla Byrne, 18:54
4) parkrun: Marlay
Amy Moran, 19:06, Dundrum South Dublin
5) parkrun: Ballincollig
Martina Kiely, 19:07, St Finbarrs AC
6) parkrun: Dundalk
Emily Jeanes, 19:09, Trent Park RC
7) parkrun: Marlay
Lynne Hennessy, 19:19, Rathfarnham Wsaf
8) parkrun: Cootehill
Lisa Clerkin, 19:24
9) parkrun: Sligo
Eimear O’Brien, 19:41, Clonliffe Harriers
10) parkrun: Cootehill
Celine Clerkin, 19:43

If you would like to run faster at parkrun, top tips to help runners of all abilities can be found here.

RELATED: 7 ways to run faster at parkrun

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