Andrew Milligan and Nakita Burke ran the fastest parkrun times in Ireland this week

Andrew Milligan celebrated Christmas Day with 15:24 at Waterworks to finish with the fastest parkrun time in Ireland this week. The 8:53.73 3000m man was ran 14:52 at Belfast Victoria last week and was a winner of the Darlington Harriers Croft 5K in November.

Fresh off the back of a new 10km PB of 34:08 at Telford Nakita Burke was this week’s fastest woman breaking the course record at Letterkenny with 17:33. The Northern Irish International is a member of the Marathon Potential 2024 programme with NI Athletics.

Eskander Osman (Turki) ran a big parkrun PB clocking 15:36 to finish with this week’s second fastest parkrun time in Ireland. Thanks to expert input from Connor Curran we know Osman is a recent signing for Annadale Striders and was third at the Laganside 10km in September running 31:48.

Emma Davis was an 11th place finisher at the recent Florence Marathon in a time of 2:49:07 but faced disappointment with thousands of others after the course was deemed to be short for outside the top few finishers. Davis was a winner at the Surrey Half Marathon in a March running 80:09 and set a new 5km best of 17:01 at Battersea in August. Her tine of 17:52 at Belfast Victoria saw her finish as this week’s 2nd fastest woman.

Eoin Lennon of Carnethy Hill RC has had a busy period of competitive action with plenty of parkrun action mixed with cross country racing. So busy in fact that he appears twice in this week’s list after clocking 15:45 on Christmas Day at Waterworks, followed three days later with 16:12 at Ormeau.

Under 17 Celine Gavin also set a new parkrun PB on Christmas Day running 18:17 at Malahide which represents a big improvement over her recent times set mostly at Tolka Valley in South Dublin.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Waterworks
Andrew Milligan, 15:24, North Belfast Harriers **25/12**
2) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Eskander Osman, 15:36, Annadale Striders
3) parkrun: Waterworks
Eoin Lennon, 15:45, Carnethy Hill RC **25/12**
4) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Jamie Knapp, 15:47, Southampton AC
5) parkrun: Ormeau
Eoin Lennon, 16:12, Carnethy Hill RC
6) parkrun: Marlay
Colm Turner, 16:14, Limerick A.C.
7) parkrun: Waterworks
Fionntan Campbell, 16:15, St Malachys AC **25/12**
8) parkrun: Malahide
Daire Bermingham, 16:21, Raheny Shamrock AC
9) parkrun: Castletown
Lee Van Haeften, 16:24
10) parkrun: Derry City
Eoin Hughes, 16:29, Letterkenny AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Letterkenny
Nakita Burke, 17:33
2) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Emma Davis, 17:52, Ward Park Runners
3) parkrun: Malahide
Celine Gavin, 18:17 **25/12**
4) parkrun: Wallace
Kirsti Foster, 18:22, Willowfield Harriers
5) parkrun: Dungloe
Helen McCready, 18:58
=6) parkrun: Shanganagh
Sarah Baryga, 19:04
=6) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Leann Gibson, 19:04, Victoria Park and Connswater AC
=6) parkrun: Wallace
Amy Bulman, 19:04, Willowfield Harriers
9) parkrun: Marlay
Hilkka Kontro, 19:07
10) parkrun: Armagh
Dearbhla Sheridan, 19:18, Belfast Running Club

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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