Martin Cox takes the Irish men’s honours as Rachel Gibson tops the women’s parkrun rankings.

Martin Cox ran 15:52 at the MUSA Cookstown parkrun to record the fastest men’s time across Ireland on Saturday (March 2).

The Carmen runner was recently seventh over 3km in 8:54 at the Armagh International Road Races. Cox also ran PBs over 1500m (4:02.63), 3000m (8:49.76) and 5000m (15:06.58) in 2018.

Rachel Gibson of North Down AC was the quickest female in 17:20 and one of only two runners under 18 minutes.

Gibson was also at Armagh and ran 9:55 for 45th in the women’s 3km race on the night. This was followed by a third place finish at the Northern Ireland & Ulster Senior cross country championships last weekend.

The top three for this week were all running at MUSA Cookstown and Jack Moore was second across the line in 16:10, shortly followed by Darrell McKee in 16:12, running for Carmen Runners AC and Acorns AC respectively.

Barbara Cleary was the only other female to break 18 minutes the week with a 17:32 at Marlay parkrun. Cleary actually broke 17 minutes with a 16:54 run back in 2014 and has run three runs under 18 minutes in 2019 already, all ranking above 90% for her age grading in the 45-49 age group.

At Wallace parkrun Amy Bulman of Willowfield Harriers posted a 18:51 to nab third place in this week’s rankings. The V35 athlete has already ranked third at the  Northern Ireland & Ulster Intermediate & Masters’ cross country championships in January and looks in good shape to improve steadily into 2019.

MUSA Cookstown was the most frequent in this week’s rankings, which is no surprise given the three fastest males were all running at the same event. A bit of racing works wonders for your times.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown
Martin Cox, 15:52, Carmen Runners AC
2) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown
Jack Moore, 16:10, Carmen Runners AC
3) parkrun: MUSA Cooktown
Darrell McKee, 16:12, Acorns AC
4) parkrun: Malahide
Jamie Gahan, 16:22, Portmarnock Athletic Club
5) parkrun: Ormeau
Peter Avant, 16:38, Shettleston Harriers
6) parkrun:Castletown
Eoghan Goss, 16:41, Celbridge AC
7) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Ciaran McKendry, 16:51, Annadale Striders
8) parkrun: Ormeau
Paul Rowan, 17:00, Willowfield Harriers
9) parkrun: Castlewellan
Paul Carroll, 17:06, Annadale Striders
10) parkrun: Castlewellan
Daniel Molloy, 17:06, Newcastle & District AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Rachel Gibson, 17:20, North Down AC
2) parkrun: Marlay
Barbara Cleary, 17:32
3) parkrun: Wallace
Amy Bulman, 18:51, Willowfield Harriers
4) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown
Brona Ni Chaiside, 19:07
5=) parkrun: Stormont
Leann Gibson, 19:27, Victoria Park & Connswater AC
5=) parkrun: Cootehill
Lisa Clerkin, 19:27
7) parkrun: Ormeau
Kate McDonald, 19:42, Bellyroan, Abbeyleix & District AC
8) parkrun: Claremorris
Mary Gleeson, 19:44
9) parkrun: Ballincollig
Nollaigh O’Neill, 19:47, Leevale AC
10) parkrun: Claremorris
Edel Reilly, 19:51

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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