William Simpson and Annette Kealy are the quickest parkrunners in Ireland this weekend (July 13th).

Annette Kealy holds her spot as the fastest female parkrunner in Ireland and she is joined by William Simpson, who steps up eight places from last week’s top 10.

Simpson cracks his PB

After running 16:56 last week William Simpson claimed a big PB on his first outing at Antrim this week with 16:01. Simpson was 11 seconds clear of this week’s second fastest runner Jonny Steede who ran 16:12 also at Antrim. Experienced mountain and fell runner Steede was a winner of the 2018 Lurig Challenge Mountain Race and has run 15:54 for the 5km distance in the past.

This week’s third fastest runner is also a successful mountain runner. Mark Ryan of Rathfarnham WSAF is a previous winner of the European Masters Mountain Running Championships. Ryan ran 16:17 at Griffeen parkrun and has a parkrun best of 15:30 set in 2018. 

David Rooney ran 16:21 to claim a parkrun at Malahide and fourth spot in our top ten. It is unclear whether this is the David Rooney who was a member of Ireland’s 2010 U/23 Euro Cross winning team. If it is it’s great to see Rooney back running regularly and getting quicker!

Kealy on top again

There were familiar names throughout the women’s top 10 including under 17 Lauren Molloy and Sarah Baryga. It was the Annette Kealy though who once again topped the list of this week’s fastest runners. 

With 18:11 at Malahide the 16:29 5km runner again showed her consistency to finish with back to back weeks at number one.

Siobhan O’Doherty is another athlete who features high up on Ireland’s all time list of marathon and half marathon runners. The former winner of the Dublin Mini Marathon has a half marathon best of 76:24 and ran 2:45 at the 2017 Paris Marathon. O’Doherty’s 18:14 clocking at Templemore was enough to win outright by over 90 seconds. 

Winner of the 2019 Tom Walsh Memorial 10k Carol Finn was third fastest this week. Finn, who has run inside 4:40 for 1500m, ran 18:48 at Ballincollig to fend off a strong run from this week’s sixth fastest Rachel Smith.

Sarah Baryga is a regular visitor to the top 10 and her run of 18:56 saw her fourth in this week’s list.

Men’s top 10
1) parkrun: Antrim
William Simpson, 16:01
2) parkrun: Antrim
Jonny Steede, 16:12, Glens Runners
3) parkrun: Griffeen
Mark Ryan, 16:17, Rathfarnham WSAF
4) parkrun: Malahide
David Rooney, 16:21
5) parkrun: Hartstown
Ger Healy, 16:29
6) parkrun: Antrim
Stephen Nicholson, 16:39, Pace Running Club
7) parkrun: Limavady
Owen Carleton, 16:40, Annadale Striders
8) parkrun: Buncrana
Gary Scully, 16:52, Nenagh Tri Club
9) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Richard Craig, 16:53, Seapark AC
10) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Jack Steenson, 16:56

Women’s top 10
1) parkrun: Malahide
Annette Kealy, 18:11, Raheny Shamrock AC
2) parkrun: Templemore
Siobhan O’Doherty, 18:14
3) parkrun: Ballincollig
Carol Finn, 18:48
4) parkrun: Shanganagh
Sarah Baryga, 18:56
5) parkrun: Griffeen
Katie Maher, 19:01, Lucan Harriers
6) parkrun: Ballincollig
Rachel Smith, 19:18
7) parkrun: Vicarstown
Lynn Hennessy, 19:20
8) parkrun: Omagh
Lauren Molloy, 19:26
9) parkrun: Porterstown
Aisling Mohan, 19:50, Metro St Brigid’s
10) parkrun: Limavady
Alexandra McClelland, 19:55

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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