Lee Van Haeften and Martina Kiely were the fastest parkrunners in Ireland this weekend (4th May).

Herne Hill Harrier/Donore man Lee Van Haeften ran 16:01 at Castletown. The physiotherapist has run 14:28 on the track and was just outside his parkrun best of 15:59 set in March. On a strong week for women’s times St Finbarrs’ Martina Kiely had a strong run at Ballincollig to finish first female and 2nd overall in 18:12 in her fastest parkrun time.

With a PB of 15:50 Stephen Kelly was head and shoulders above the competition at Oldbridge finishing 2 minutes, 15 seconds clear of the second place finisher.

Last week’s fastest female Gemma McDonald of Ballycastle Runners was also in fine form again this week finishing Ecos parkrun in 18:50 for second place. McDonald, who has a parkrun best of 18:10, has had a fine start to 2019 with a big half marathon PB of 84:40 set at Omagh Half Marathon last month.

On a week when every man in the top 10 ran inside 17 minutes, and every female 19:30 or faster there were many PBs set throughout both top 10 lists in what were generally good, quick conditions.

With big city marathons like Belfast this weekend there could have been a slower average for the parkrun times this weekend, but the depth of Irish park running held strong. Hopefully in the future we see some of the athletes of this weekend progressing on their running journey. It doesn’t always have to be further though, times are getting faster too.

Belfast Victoria was once again the event that featured most often in the rankings. If you’re after a new parkrun PB then there flat and fast course is a good place to go running.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Castletown

Lee Van Haeften, 16:01, Herne Hill/Donore

2) parkrun: Oldbridge

Stephen Kelly, 16:12

3) parkrun: St Anne’s

Eoin Durkan, 16:21, Aberdeen AAC

4) parkrun: Athlone

Kevin Moore, 16:29, Brighton & Hove AC

5) parkrun: Glen River

Jordan Beleffi, 16:31

6) parkun: Castlewellan

Aaron McGrady, 16:32, East Down AC

7) parkun: Belfast Victoria

Michael McKillop, 16:33

8) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown

Aaron Meharg, 16:45, Acorns AC

9) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown

Aidan O’Hagan, 16:48, Acorns AC

10) parkrun: St Anne’s

Graham O’Dwyer, 16:54, Raheny Shamrock AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Ballincollig

Martina Kiely, 18:12, St Finbarrs AC

2) parkrun: Ecos

Gemma McDonald, 18:50, Ballycastle Runners AC

3) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Niamh Kellett, 19:02

4) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Marina Campbell, 19:05, City of Derry AC

5) parkrun: Marlay

Rachel Riordan, 19:14, Dundrum South Dublin

6) parkrun: Claremorris

Mary Gleeson, 19:16

7) parkrun: St Anne’s

Ciara Brady, 19:17

8) parkrun: Citypark

Martsje Hell, 19:23, North Belfast Harriers

9) parkrun: Longford

Sarah Fitzpatrick, 19:29

10) parkrun: Ballincollig

Rachel Smith, 19:30

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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