Kirsti Foster and Tom Aldred ran the fastest parkrun times in Ireland this weekend

Kirsti Foster of East Down AC features in the Irish parkrun top 10 most weeks, in fact usually somewhere in the top five. This week the under 15 athlete tops the list after her run of 18:43 at Belfast Victoria. With track season in full effect Foster has been making excellent progress in 2019 and recently ran a big 1500m PB of 4:48.28 to win the Irish Life Health Juvenile Championships.

Second fastest this week as Eleanor Alexander whose run of 18:54 saw first home at Tymon parkrun 36 seconds ahead of the fastest man. Alexander has a parkrun best of 18:33 set at Marlay and this was her first parkrun outing since 2016.

Lucan Harrier Aoife Coffey ran 19:06 at Griffeen to finish as this week’s third fastest runner. Coffey was a winner at the Irish Mountain Running Association’s Great Sugar Loaf 7.5km race earlier this month.

London Heathside’s Tom Aldred was the fastest male runner this week clocking 15:46 at Clonmel. More commonly seen run the streets of North London Aldred finished third at the recent Elmbridge 10km and has a strong 2019 running a PB of 2:23:28 to finish 34th at Rotterdam Marathon.

Matthew Neill ran 15:54 to finish as last week’s second fastest runner, this week the Omagh man ran a second faster for the same position in the top 10. It’s been a good week Neill has he set a big 3,000m PB on Tuesday running 8:49.93 taking nearly 20 seconds off his previous best.

Mark Kirwan of Raheny Shamrock AC was this week’s third fastest man also running sub 16 with 15:56 at St Anne’s. Kirwan is 50th on Ireland’s all time marathon list with his fine 2:17 clocking to finish 10th in Dublin last year.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Clonmel
Tom Aldred, 15:46, London Heathside
2) parkrun: Omagh
Matthew Neill, 15:53
3) parkrun: St Anne’s
Mark Kirwan, 15:56, Raheny Shamrock AC
4) parkrun: Clonmel
Joseph Morrison, 16:03, West Cheshire AC
5) parkrun: Castlewellan
Aaron McGrady, 16:07, East Down AC
6) parkrun: St Anne’s
Michael McCarthy, 16:27, Liffey Valley AC
7) parkrun: Ormeau
Tony McCambridge, 16:32
8) parkrun: Claremorris
John Courell, 16:34, Ballina A.C.
=9) parkrun: Oldbridge
Stephen Kelly, 16:40
=9) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Stephen Connolly, 16:40, Annadale Striders

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Kirsti Foster, 18:43, East Down AC
2) parkrun: Tymon
Eleanor Alexander, 18:54
3) parkrun: Griffeen
Aoife Coffey, 19:06, Lucan Harriers
4) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Lucy Foster, 19:15, East Down AC
5) parkrun: Limerick
Shona Ni Fhloinn, 19:38, Dooneen AC
6) parkrun: Westport
Laura Blazey, 19:40, Ranelagh Harriers
7) parkrun: Queens
Amy Bulman, 19:41, Willowfield Harriers
=8) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Heather Malone, 19:46
=8) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
April Clarke, 19:46, North Belfast Harriers
10) parkrun: Poolbeg
Poolbeg parkrun, Katie Rogers, 19:48, Crusaders Athletic Club

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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