Abbie Donnelly and Tomer Tarragano ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this weekend (28th December).

Abbie Donnelly of Lincoln Wellington must have been training on Boxing Day, just like Cristiano Ronaldo in his fancy pool, and has an excellent 16:31 parkrun at Market Rasen Racecourse to show for it. It’s a new parkrun best for Donnelly and brings it a little closer to her quick 2019 PBs for 5000m (16:21) and 5k (16:11).

Tomer Tarragano was the quickest of the bunch at Dulwich parkrun with a 14:41 showing. The Hercules Wimbledon U20 has PB’d at every distance this year, from 400m (54.7) to 5000m (15:13.81 to win the Sussex county Champs). Just a few weeks back Tarragano was ninth at the highly competitive British Athletics Cross Challenge in Sefton Park and looks to have an exciting cross country season ahead.

Second and third ranked females this week both looked to have had some canine assistance but if we’re wrong then could Becky Roberts and Lisa Macdonald please get in touch and we will add you to the results. That leaves last week’s quickest, Elizabeth Davies of Springfield Striders, to grab the second spot this week. Really good, consistent running from the V35 athlete.

Hannah Taunton of Taunton AC was the third fastest female and it caps a really strong year for the GB para athlete who has run a host of PBs and competed at an high level throughout 2019. A highlight must have been competing at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai and it is exciting to see what the future holds for the young star.

Three other male runners broken fifteen minutes this week, with Jack Rowe running 14:47 at Bushy Park, Ciaran Lewis 14:58 in Cardiff and James Teagle 14:59 at Long Eaton. Thomas Beasley was 15:00 flat at Cannon Hill so will have to work on his sprint finish for next week.

With this being the festive season and some additional midweek parkrun action on Christmas Day a couple of people feared twice. We’re not sure if Peter Harry Brookes of Tipton Harriers ran at Canon Hill in Birmingham and Oaklands parkrun at the same time (and is two different, but very similar people) or if one was midweek and the other at the weekend.

Likewise we’re hedging out bets on Seyfu Jamaal being super consistent and running 15:08 at Highbury Fields on Wednesday and Saturday this week to tie himself for ninth position in the rankings. Now should we feature Seyfu twice? Or is it just the one result as he is both ninth ranked individuals?

Some Google and Twitter investigation (that’s all journalism is these days) revealed that Jamaal did in fact equal his new Highbury Fields course record that he set on Christmas Day, as well as running a 14:42 at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k on Friday too. Hopefully he’s got an easy day soon.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Dulwich
Tomer Tarragano, 14:41, Hercules Wimbledon
2) parkrun: Bushy
Jack Piran Rowe, 14:47, Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC
3) parkrun: Cardiff
Ciaran Lewis, 14:58, Cardiff ACC
4) parkrun: Long Eaton
James Teagle, 14:59, Leicester Triathlon Club
5) parkrun: Cannon Hill, Birmingham 
Thomas Beasley, 15:00, Birchfield Harriers
6) parkrun: Norwich
Barclay Izzard, 15:02, Loughborough Triathlon
7) parkrun: Cannon Hill, Birmingham 
Peter Harry Brookes, 15:05, Tipton Harriers
8) parkrun: Oaklands
Peter Harry Brookes, 15:07, Tipton Harriers
9=) parkrun: Highbury Fields
Seyfu Jamaal, 15:08, London Heathside AC
9=) parkrun: Highbury Fields
Seyfu Jamaal, 15:08, London Heathside AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Market Rasen Racecourse
Abbie Donnelly, 16:31, Lincoln Wellington AC
2) parkrun: Woodhouse Moor
Elizabeth Davies, 17:10, Springfield Striders RC
3) parkrun: Exmouth
Hannah Taunton, 17:22, Taunton AC
4) parkrun: Norwich
Sophie Alden, 17:23, City of Norwich AC
5=) parkrun: Markeaton
Jennifer Walsh, 17:24, Spenborough & District AC
5=) parkrun: Bakewell
Lauren McNeil, 17:24, Buxton AC
7) parkrun: York
Charlotte Mason, 17:29, City of York AC
8) parkrun: Newcastle
Philippa Williams, 17:30, Elswick Harriers
9) parkrun: Newbury
Georgia Hayes, 17:31, Reading AC
10) parkrun: Torbay Velopark
Constance Nankivell, 17:36, East Sutherland AC

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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