The parkrun tradition of allowing double runs on New Years Day allowed for some excellent performances to start 2019.

The fastest pair on New Year’s Day (January 1) were Peter Le Grice and Hayley Carruthers, but Carruthers didn’t want to settle for just one appearance in the rankings.

The Birchfield Harrier ran 16:24 at Brueton parkrun and then 16:33 at Kingsbury Water parkrun. Carruther’s coach Dan Robinson seems to have run both with the athlete as well.

As the results are mixed with results from the weekend it is difficult to be certain, but it seems the England marathoner ran the two quickest female times of the day, with only Grace Brock’s 16:32 from Saturday in between. A good double session for the parkrun fan.

Peter Le Grice, running at Penrose parkrun in Cornwall, ran an excellent 14:38 and, even with his quick time, might have struggled to make it to another parkrun in time for a double. Penrose parkrun is the furthest south of any parkrun on the British mainland.

parkrun regular Paul Marteletti was the first finisher at both Peckham Rye and Catford parkruns and features as fourth and ninth fastest parkrun of the day. Carruthers and Marteletti were the only two who featured twice in the top 10.

The marathoner and ultra distance athlete ran 15:08 at Peckham Rye and 15:35 at Catford, which was his first time at the south east London event. It was a course record for both events too.

Swansea Harrier’s Matthew Rees also made a solid double attempt with his 15:32 at Cardiff parkrun being good enough for seventh, whilst his 16:33 at Barry Island was also a first finisher run too.

Eighth placed Aston Perrin of Long Eaton RC also made it two ‘first finishers’ with 15:33 at Northampton parkrun and 16:17 at Kettering.

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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