Hannah Irwin and Ben Brown ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this week (25th September).

What a week for parkrun! Five men broke 15 minutes and two women ran under 17 minutes, with Fast Running’s Hannah Irwin the fastest of the bunch.

Ben Brown led home the men in possibly the fastest set of results we’ve seen in this round-up. The Southampton AC man clocked 14:32 at the fast Poole parkrun on the south coast.

Hannah Irwin continued another excellent season, also at Poole parkrun, with a 16:16 result. It’s certainly making choosing the fastest event of the week a tough one. It’s the first year Irwin has broken 16 minutes for 5000m so a parkrun Pb was on the cards, to go with the 73:23 half marathon debut for the James Thie coached star.

Just a second back

Just one second behind Ben Brown, in a slightly different part of the country, was Nicholas Torry in 14:33 at Dulwich parkrun, who had fifth placed Nick Bester keeping him honest as one of our other sub 15 runners in 14:46.

Second placed lady, in 16:53, was Sophie Wallis. The Lincoln Wellington athlete took one second off her parkrun best, also set this year in September too. Add that to the 16:50 5k PB from Leicestershire Chase the Sun 5K and a 35:26 10k PB in July and you have to wonder what is next?

Up at Aberdeen parkrun in Scotland there was a close run “race” in a non-race, with Sean Chalmers and Michael Ferguson running 14:37 and 14:42 respectively for 3rd and 4th spot. Even third finisher at Aberdeen this weekend was in our top ten with 15:04.

Fastest course?

A real dilemma this week. All of Poole, Aberdeen and Dulwich could take a run at the crown, but I think Poole edges it with both fastest finishers at the same event. Both Aberdeen and Dulwich had two runners under 15 minutes, but no speedy ladies.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Poole
Ben Brown, 14:32, Southampton AC
2) parkrun: Dulwich
Nicholas Torry, 14:33, Serpentine RC
3) parkrun: Aberdeen
Sean Chalmers, 14:37, Inverness Harriers AAC
4) parkrun: Aberdeen
Michael Ferguson, 14:42, Banchory Stonehaven AC
5) parkrun: Dulwich
Nick Bester, 14:46, Herne Hill Harriers
6) parkrun: Aberdeen
Max Abernethy, 15:04, Fraserburgh RC
7) parkrun: Albert, Middlesborough 
Max Creasey, 15:09, Middlesborough AC
8) parkrun: Abingdon 
Rowan Miell-Ingram, 15:16, Radley AC
9) parkrun: Worthing
Nick Dawson, 15:19
10) parkrun: Felixstowe
Danny Rock, 15:23, Felixstowe RRC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Poole
Hannah Irwin, 16:16, Guildford & Godalming AC
2) parkrun: Doddington Hall
Sophie Wallis, 16:53
3) parkrun: Victoria Dock
Holly Dixon, 17:05, Cambridge Harriers
4) parkrun: Uni of Stirling
Morag Millar, 17:11, Central AC
5) parkrun: Long Eaton
Georgina Weston, 17:16, Notts AC
6=) parkrun: Sandall Park
Sophie Wood, 17:18, Sale Harriers Manchester
6=) parkrun: Storey’s Field
Beth Hawling, 17:18, Cheltenham & County Harriers
8) parkrun: The Old Showfield
Sophie Nicholls, 17:31, City of Salisbury AC
9) parkrun: Penrose
Lauren Cooper, 17:32, Shrewsbury AC
10) parkrun: Lowestoft
Samantha Jacks, 17:41, Waveney Valley AC

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