Our write-up might have been slow but Rose Harvey and James Pettersson ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK last week (31st July).

Clapham Chaser Harvey led a speedy trio at Burgess parkrun, with 16:30 being the quickest time recorded this weekend. The fast times possibly inspired by her training partner Steph Davis gearing up for the Olympic Marathon this weekend!

Fastest male runner was James Pettersson of Ipswich Harriers, who ran a solid 14:48 on the south coast at Southampton. It marks a huge jump for the U23, who ran mostly on the cross-country in 2020.

With a previous parkrun best of 15:27, as well as a 5000m mark of 15:45, one might think it was a breakthrough run, but the Stephen Hicks coached athlete has already ran an excellent 10k with 30:00 in May.

Second placed Joe Sagar was a whisker away from breaking 15 minutes at Brighouse parkrun. The 14:08 5k runner has also PB’d at 5000m and 10,000m on the track this year with 14:50.3 and 30:31.72 respectively, as well as 51:48 for 10 mile and 66:48 for half. Wowzers.

Another athlete under 17 minutes

Not one, but two females broke 17 minutes for parkrun last weekend with Georgina Schwiening running 16:51 at Coldham’s Common.

The Cambridge distance runner won Peterborough Marathon earlier this year in 2:39 and this parkrun PB, as well as a recent 10k PB of 33:36 could mean we might see an even faster marathon than her 2019 PB of 2:35 from Valencia.

Making the editing easier

Seventh and tenth position for the men was held strong by William Strangeway and Chris Livesey, at the same parkrun and with a time varying by a few seconds each. The question is, can both hold the same position this weekend and save us some time again? We thank you in advance.

Annabel Gummow and Michelle Pearson both feature for the second week running, but in different positions. Last week’s fastest Pearson was a wee bit slower, and got bunny-hopped by three faster efforts, whilst Gummow was 12 second faster at the same event.

Fastest event?

If you wanted to run fast last weekend, especially as a female athlete, then Burgess Park was the place. Rose Harvey, fellow Clapham Chasers Laura Boehm and Steph McCall, now all coached by Steph Davis’ coach Phil Kissi, clearly picked the event for a decent training session.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Southampton
James Pettersson, 14:48, Ipswich Harriers
2) parkrun: Brighouse
Joe Sagar, 15:01, Spenborough & District AC
3) parkrun: South Manchester
Adam Sciacca, 15:15, Trafford AC
4=) parkrun: Poole
Rowan Miell-Ingram, 15:20, Radley AC
4=) parkrun: Dulwich
Nicholas Torry, 15:20, Serpentine RC
4=) parkrun: Norwich
James Price, 15:20, City of Norwich AC
7) parkrun: Lincoln
William Strangeway, 15:29, Lincoln Wellington AC
8) parkrun: Poole
James Vaughan, 15:31, Birchfield Harriers
9) parkrun: Albert, Middlesborough 
Kieran Walker, 15:31, Sedgefield Harriers
10) parkrun: Preston
Chris Livesey, 15:38, Salford Harriers & AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Burgess
Rose Harvey, 16:30, Clapham Chasers RC
2) parkrun: Coldham’s Common
Georgina Schwiening, 16:51, Cambridge & Coleridge AC
3) parkrun: Pontefract
Jennifer Walsh, 17:03, Spenborough & District AC
4) parkrun: Bushy
Michelle Pearson, 17:05, Belgrave/Australia
5) parkrun: Burgess
Laura Boehm, 17:08, Clapham Chasers RC
6) parkrun: Panshanger
Annabel Gummow, 17:16, Winchester & District AC
7) parkrun: Reading
Kirsty Walker, 17:18, Reading AC
8) parkrun: The Wammy
Louise Hackett, 17:20, Wolverhampton & Bilston AC
9) parkrun: Burgess
Steh McCall, 17:24, South London Harriers
10) parkrun: Albert, Middlesborough 
Philippa Stone, 17:42, Middlesborough AC

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