Jarlath McKenna takes the men’s honours as Bláithín Sheil tops the women’s parkrun rankings.

Jarlath McKenna ran a new best of 15:54 at the MUSA Cookstown parkrun to record the fastest men’s time across the island of Ireland on Saturday (December 15).

The Bristol & West AC athlete, who is originally from Cookstown, was taking part in his 121st Saturday morning event. Earlier this year, McKenna clocked 2:30:44 to finished sixth overall and first Northern Irish runner at the Belfast City Marathon.

Bláithín Sheil claimed the women’s top spot after running 19:05 on her eighth outing at the St Anne’s parkrun.

The Raheny Shamrock athlete recently finished 73rd at the Irish National Cross Country Championships.

Andrew O’Brien ran 16:22 at the Naas parkrun to record the men’s second fastest time this week. O’Brien was running in his first parkrun.

The women’s number two spot on Saturday went to Leann Gibson, who ran 19:59 at the Stormont parkrun.

The Victoria Park & Connswater runner, who has a parkrun best of 19:05, was taking part in her 29th event.

It was a four way tie for the most represented parkrun in the top 10, with MUSA Cookstown, St Anne’s, Belfast Victoria and Queen’s, Belfast all having two runners each.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown
Jarlath Mckenna, 15:54, Bristol & West AC
2) parkrun: Naas
Andrew O’Brien, 16:22
3) parkrun: Ballina
John Courell, 16:36, Ballina AC
4) parkrun: Westport
David Hickey, 17:04, Westport AC
5) parkrun: Citypark, Craigavon
Gary Henderson, 17:10, Armagh AC
6) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown
Aidan O’Hagan, 17:10, Acorns AC
7) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Gavin McCaffrey, 17:16, Ballymena & Antrim AC
8) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Owen Carleton, 17:33, Annadale Striders
9) parkrun: Tralee
Derek Griffin, 17:47
10) parkrun: St Anne’s
Martin Mckenna, 17:48, Raheny Shamrock AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: St Anne’s
Bláithín Sheil, 19:05, Raheny Shamrock AC
2) parkrun: Stormont
Leann Gibson, 19:59, Victoria Park & Connswater AC
3) parkrun: Queen’s, Belfast
Julie Murphy, 20:11, Lagan Valley AC
4) parkrun: Queen’s, Belfast
Shileen O’Kane, 20:14, Lagan Valley AC
5) parkrun: Limerick
Julia Donovan, 20:18, Wimbledon Windmilers
6) parkrun: Castlebar
Colette Tuohy, 20:19, Mayo AC
7) parkrun: Bangor
Fiona Mcquillan, 20:31, North Down AC
8) parkrun: Tymon
Sarah Fitzpatrick, 20:34
9) parkrun: Mullingar
Breda Daly, 20:36
10) parkrun: Ecos, Ballymena
Catriona Quigley, 20:37, Ballymena Runners

Also 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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