Eskander Osman and Kirsti Foster ran the fastest parkrun times in Ireland this week (14th March)

With events in Ireland cancelled due to restrictions on public gatherings this week’s results come exclusively from Northern Irish parkruns. Annadale Striders’ Eskander Osman topped this weeks list with 15:30 at Belfast Victoria setting himself a new parkrun PB. Osman was a silver medallist at the recent Northern Ireland and Ulster cross-country championships.

Belfast Victoria saw the top five women’s times this week, all sub 19 minutes. Willowfield’s young sensation Kirsti Foster also claimed a new parkrun PB of 17:41 which sees her 2nd on the UK u/15 parkrun rankings in 2020. Foster was 2nd in the u/17 race at the Irish Schools Championships last weekend.

David Hamilton of St Peters AC claimed a huge parkrun PB when clocking 15:51 at City Park to finish as this week’s second fastest man. Hamilton won the ‘Armagh Beating the January Blues’ marathon in January running 2:44:02. He had a fine 2019 which saw PBs at every distance including 32:49 at the Seeley Cup 10km.

It was a week for getting PBs and 2nd fastest woman, Leann Gibson, also got in on the action with 18:13 at Belfast Victoria. Gibson also set PBs across the board in 2019, a highlight being 38:03 at the Seeley Cup.

15:56 saw Aaron McGrady finish 3rd fastest on this week’s list, following a similar theme McGrady also had a top performance at the Seeley Cup 10k in 31:35. London based McGrady has been busy racing cross country since the turn of the year including a 14th placed finish in the competitive Metropolitan League at Alexandra palace.

Yet another parkrun PB went to under 15 athlete Katie McCleery whose time of 18:22 was a 62 second improvement on her previous parkrun best. McCleery was a winner of the recent U/15 Scottish National 1500m Indoor Championships and clocked 10:24 at the Armagh International Road Race 3km.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Eskander Osman, 15:30, Annadale Striders
2) parkrun: City Park
David Hamilton, 15:51, St Peters AC
3) parkrun: Castlewellan
Aaron McGrady, 15:56, East Down AC
4) parkrun: Castlewellan
Adam Kirk-Smith, 16:05, Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies
5) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Robert Hagen, 16:08
6) parkrun: City Park
Peter Donnelly, 16:08
7) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Keith Purdy, 16:10, Victoria Park and Connswater AC
8) parkrun: Waterworks
Callum Morgan, 16:10, St Malachys AC
9) parkrun: Castlewellan
David O’Flaherty, 16:13, Newcastle & District AC
10) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown
Peter Tuohey, 16:22, Derry City Track Club

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Kirsti Foster, 17:41, Willowfield Harriers
2) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Leann Gibson, 18:13, Victoria Park and Connswater AC
3) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Katie McCleery, 18:22, City of Lisburn AC
4) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
April Clarke, 18:46, North Belfast Harriers
5) parkrun: Belfast VictoriaEdinburgh 
Lucy Foster, 18:48, Willowfield Harriers
6) parkrun: Dungannon Park
Natalie Hall, 19:05, Armagh AC
7) parkrun: Sixmilewater
Jana Ross, 19:24, County Antrim Harriers
8) parkrun: Bangor
Fiona McQuillan, 19:30, North Down AC
9) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Natasha Hewitt, 19:39, County Antrim Harriers
10) parkrun: Omagh 
Eimear McCarroll, 19:39

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

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