Agnes McTighe and Charlie Brisley ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK in 2024…so far (1st-6th January).

Our weekly parkrun top ten is now sponsored by Vertebrate Publishing (my publisher) and here’s a link to buy my book on their website. They actually have a bunch of great books to choose from, especially the mountaineering ones, so don’t feel like you have to buy 1001 Running Tips.

It’s the first week of the year so everything is a world lead and that goes for the parkrun top 10 too. Okay, Training Peaks telling you that you’ve hit another “peak performance 2024” gets old pretty quickly, but sometimes we have to celebrate the little wins.

The fastest female this week was Agnes McTighe, who I am assuming is the Switzerland based athlete who is a member of the Club Sportif 13 Etoiles in the Valais (along with her brothers Iganatius and Marmaduke, all very good youth runners). The last results we have are from 2014 so this might be incorrect but 16:48 at Keswick parkrun was the top for this week and ties in with an athlete who ran 9:25.61 as a 14 year old in 2015.

Charlie Brisley was the fastest chap in 14:32 at Dover waterfront parkrun. It was a south coast battle, with GB cross country runner Zakariya Mahamed of Southampton AC just three seconds back in 14:35 at his home parkrun along the coast. Brisley is a 14:15 5000m runner, whereas Mahamed is 13:47 so both have some serious leg speed.

The best of the rest

Katie Pye was next on the women’s list with 17:09 at Valentines parkrun in East London. The U17 has a Power of 10 page just jam packed with medal emojis so best to check it out yourself as I’ll certainly miss something. It’s her fastest parkrun since May 2022, but it’s not like the AFD runner has been sleeping in on a Saturday morning, just racing elsewhere.

Third chap was at Storey’s Field and it was Peter Molloy who found his way to the finish line first. The Forth Valley Orienteer hopefully didn’t need his map and thumb compass for the fast parkrun of 14:46 but knowing how quick some of these orienteers are we wouldn’t be surprised.

At Eastbourne parkrun it was Harriet Bloor who was the third on the women’s rankings with 17:14. The Hailsham Harrier now runs for Lewes and Loughborough University and has a parkrun PB of 16:51 from 2022 so this is the quickest since then, coming off a strong 34:23 at Telford 10k in December last year.

The fastest course?

The fastest course is the one you’re at… but that isn’t always the case, especially if you’re at Sheringham parkrun in North Norfolk as we hear that is a toughie (but beautiful and lovely people). This week it looks like Dulwich parkrun featured twice, and we know that one is a quick course.

Men’s Rankings

Women’s Rankings