George King and Emma Gould run the quickest parkrun times in the UK this weekend.

George King of Winchester & District AC was the quickest male in the UK after running 15:28 at the Moors Valley parkrun on Saturday (February 9).

The 31:01 10k runner said that it was his “first time at this course, challenging hills so a good one to test the fitness during XC season”.

Emma Gould was the fastest woman of the weekend with an excellent 17:32 at Isobel Trail parkrun. It is a 14 second parkrun PB for the Birchfield Harrier in her first of 2019. It is actually quicker than the athlete’s 5000m and 5k times so a good season is hopefully ahead!

King and Louise Damen are both coached by Tom Craggs and were using parkrun as part of their weekend training. Damen was second fastest female with 17:47, also at the Moors Valley parkrun.

Damen is a 2:30 marathoner who has represented Great Britain on numerous occasions on the cross country and England at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, where she finished seventh in 2:32:59.

Coach Craggs said: “George ran well today, Moors Valley is a hilly course mostly on trail so combined with the headwind it was a super time.

“Louise is just building back into a little more competitive running so ran very controlled. Both added a couple of miles of tempo after for a good mornings work.”

Big Nige running strong

Nigel Martin of Sale Harriers ran 15:31 at Sale Water parkrun and will most likely be using the run in the build up to Armagh 5k this coming week.

The dedicated club runner was a fine fifth at the Northern Cross Country Championships recently and will be concerned about getting beaten by 24hr runner Robbie Britton in Northern Ireland this week, so will be training hard.

Daniel Rothwell of Swansea Harriers was third fastest on the weekend with a 15:41 at Swansea Bay parkrun. The Loughborough Student has an impressive range of Power of 10 with a 60.90 for 400m, a 75.70 for 400m hurdles and a 2:31 marathon with a whole bunch of other marks in the middle.

Rosie McNabola of Luton AC also has a good range and seemed to focus on middle distance, 400, 800 and 1500m last summer. The turn of speed has seen her start 2019 well with a 17:41 and a 17:59 this week at Luton Wardown parkrun.

Vale Royal AC must have given parkrun as homework work for its club runners this week, with three different members of the club featuring in the top 10.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Moors Valley
George King, 15:28, Winchester and District AC
2) parkrun: Sale Water
Nigel Martin, 15:31, Sale Harriers Manchester
3) parkrun: Swansea Bay
Daniel Rothwell, 15:41, Swansea Harriers AC
4) parkrun: Northala Fields
Jonathan Poole, 15:43, Serpentine RC
5) parkrun: Albert, Middlesborough
Gregory Jayasuriya, 15:45, Middlesbrough & Cleveland Harriers
6) parkrun: Cardiff
Miles Chandler, 15:53, Bristol & West
7) parkrun: Springburn parkrun, Glasgow
Wiliams Bardsley, 15:54
8) parkrun: Congleton
Andrew Miles, 15:57, Vale Royal AC
9) parkrun: Crewe
Jacob Brown, 16:10, Vale Royal AC
10) parkrun: Jersey
Daniel Romeril, 16:14

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Isabel Trail
Emma Gould, 17:32, Birchfield Harriers
2) parkrun: Moors Valley
Louise Damen, 17:47, Winchester and District AC
3) parkrun: Luton Wardown
Rosie McNabola, 17:59, Luton AC
4) parkrun: Strathclyde
Eilidh Bell, 18:05, Chippenham Harriers
5) parkrun: Heslington
Emma Waudby, 18:10, Pocklington Runners
6) parkrun: Delamere
Holly Weedall, 18:21, Vale Royal AC
7) parkrun: Pegwell Bay
Teigan Sullivan, 18:24, Invite East Kent AC
8) parkrun: Littleport
Daisy Glover, 18:29, Framlingham Flyers
9) parkrun: Burgess
Helena Corbin, 18:32, Herne Hill Harriers
10) parkrun: Chelmsford Central
Elizabeth Davies, 18:34, Springfield Strides RC

If you enjoy running at parkrun but want to develop and get a bit faster then find a running club near you. Clubs have all the social aspects of parkrun and cater for all levels to help you progress. More information can be found here.

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

RELATED: 7 ways to run faster at parkrun

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