Photo: Paul Stillman

Jenny Nesbitt and Alex Teuten ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this New Year’s week (1st & 4th January).

Starting the year out at a quick pace, Jenny Nesbitt runs the third fastest UK parkrun ever with a 15:54 at Cardiff parkrun this Saturday. The Cardiff AC athlete might have been running with someone else or partied a little too hard on New Year’s Eve after running 20:51 in Worcester on the 1st, but got very close to her club mate Charlotte Arter’s parkrun best of 15:50 at the same venue.

Alex Teuten was the fastest male this week with a 14:42 performance at Southsea parkrun. The Southampton AC cross country specialist is starting the 2020 season in good form and hopefully we see more of the long-legged distance runner as the year continues.

Not happy with Seyfu Jamaal getting credit for doubling up in the Christmas rankings, Hayley Carruthers chose to go one step further. The Birchfield Harrier features not once or twice, but three times in this week’s rankings. A double on New Year’s Day, coupled with a course record run this weekend sees the marathoner take 2nd, 3rd and 4th position.

It would have been a full podium for Carruthers had Hoka One One athlete Nesbitt not sped around Cardiff Park to spoil the party.

Right up in the Cairngorm mountains Tom Martyn bared the cold weather to break 15 minutes at the Aviemore parkrun with a 14:57. The Hunter’s Bog Trotter (one of the best named clubs in the UK) ended 2019 with a rocket up his arse when he ran 29:57 at the Ribble Valley 10k and 2020 he’s still flying.

New Year’s Day seems to have been a sprint finish at the Portobello Promathon 4 with both Martyn and Grant Sheldon finishing in 18:46, but Sheldon took the win. It’ll be exciting to see how the Scot goes in 2020 on the back of these fine results.

The third fastest female (although in fifth place due to Carruther’s triple) was young Grace Copeland. Grace and her brother Piers are two starlets to watch and Tom Craggs had a wonderful interview with the pair in 2019. Catch it here. Copeland starts 2020 with a 17:02 at Poole parkrun on the south coast, which is a new parkrun best for the U23.

It seems there was race at Derry City parkrun for the third spot this week with Conor Bradley besting his club mate Fintan Stewart by just 13 seconds. Both runners for City of Derry AC, Bradley ran 14:59, whilst Stewart was just behind in 15:12.

We normally remove unknown and canicross runners from our results, as well as possible short courses or mistakes, but sometimes it is really difficult to tell. After searching Powerof10 and Google we decided to remove Daisy Rawlings, who ran 16:54 at Dulwich Park on New Year’s Day. If this is a mistake then please do let us know!

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Southsea

Alex Teuten, 14:42, Southampton AC

2) parkrun: Aviemore

Tom Martyn, 14:57, Hunters Bog Trotters

3) parkrun: Derry City

Conor Bradley, 14:59, City of Derry AC

4) parkrun: Derry City

Fintan Stewart, 15:12, City of Derry AC

5) parkrun: Rutland Water

James McCrae, 15:17, Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield AC

6) parkrun: Hereford

Rhys Park, 15:19, Cheltenham & County Harriers

7) parkrun: Felixstowe

Jonathan Hiley, 15:20

8=) parkrun: Long Eaton

Richard Weir, 15:24, Derby AC

8=) parkrun: The Wammy

Jamie Arnold, 15:24, City of Stoke AC

10) parkrun: Kirkcaldy

Ben Potrykus, 15:25, Pitreavie AAC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Cardiff

Janny Nesbitt, 15:54, Worcester AC

2) parkrun: Lytham Hall

Hayley Carruthers, 16:38, Birchfield Harriers

3) parkrun: Brueton

Hayley Carruthers, 16:39, Birchfield Harriers

4) parkrun: Perry Hall

Hayley Carruthers, 16:59, Birchfield Harriers

5) parkrun: Poole

Grace Copeland, 17:02, Wimbourne AC

6) parkrun: Alexandra Park, Moss Side

Sophie Wood, 17:17, Sale Harriers, Manchester

7) parkrun: Cardiff

Hannah Taunton, 17:27, Taunton AC

8) parkrun: Sheffield Hallam

Philippa Williams, 17:30, Sheffield Running Club

9) parkrun: Bushy

Sarah Astin, 17:32, City of Norwich AC

10) parkrun: Hackney Marshes

Emma Prideaux, 17:35, Billericay Striders RC

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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