Andrew Fyfe and Steph Davis ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this week (25th January).

After a stellar 2019 that saw Clapham Chaser Steph Davis run not one, but two absolutely fantastic marathons at London and Valencia, 2020 seems to have started in very much the same vein with a run that puts the Olympic marathon hopeful atop the weekly parkrun rankings.

With a 16:36 at Burgess parkrun, with 4th place Isabel Clark also running at the same event (17:39) it seems Davis has recovered well from Valencia and is in flying form in the build up to London, looking to build on 2:27:40 from December in Spain. We’re excited to see how she runs.

The fastest man chose the same venue as last weekend, Dulwich Park, but changed their name. It’s highly likely Andrew Fyfe is just a different runner who heard that to get a table at the post race cafe is a bit of a scrap, so arrived as quickly as possible. The Edinburgh AC Scot ran 14:45 and was our only runner to break 15 minutes this week. One might imagine a lot of the useful south London parkrunners were over at Parliament Hill for the cross country.

Considering both Davis and Fyfe are Scots, it seems appropriate we had the next runner actually running up in Scotland. Megan Davies, of Sale Harriers Manchester, ran 17:18 at Victoria Park in Glasgow and Power of 10 does tell us that Davies is a Scot herself. The San Francisco university student has more of a middle distance focus, but showed good endurance this weekend.

It’s no surprise that second place male was an Northern Irish athlete Tony McCambridge. A 15:19 run at Belfast Victoria was good enough to pip 3rd place Paul Whittaker by just one second and take the silver for parkrun this weekend.

It’s a relief to see the podiums being filled with Scottish and Northern Irish runners on a day that most English club runners were at their regional cross country championships. It shows that the importance of running up Parliament Hill as hard as you can and then charging though the mud hasn’t been lost. It’s an experience any cross country runner should experience at least once.

Third placed athletes were the talented Hannah Taunton, who clocked 17:22 at Exmouth parkrun and Paul Whittaker, who ran 15:20 at the quick loops at Southend parkrun, actually where my own parkrun best was set, albeit a minute slower than Paul.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Dulwich

Andrew Fyfe, 14:45, Edinburgh AC

2) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Tony McCambridge, 15:19

3) parkrun: Southend

Paul Whittaker, 15:20, Southend-on-Sea AC

4) parkrun: Springburn, Glasgow

Ryan Thompson, 15:22, Cambuslang Harriers

5) parkrun: Birkenhead

Joseph Morrison, 15:28, West Cheshire AC

6) parkrun: Dolgellau

Andrew Davies, 15:29, Stockport Harriers & AC

7=) parkrun: Worthing

Maxwell Dumbrell, 15:30

7=) parkrun: Bushy

Rowan Axe, 15:30, Cardiff AAC

9) parkrun: Brueton

Simon Nott, 15:32, Calne RC

10) parkrun: Telford

Dylan Gillett, 15:33, Telford AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Burgess

Stephanie Davis, 16:36, Clapham Chasers RC

2) parkrun: Victoria Park, Glasgow

Megan Davies, 17:18, Sale Harriers Manchester

3) parkrun: Exmouth

Hannah Taunton, 17:22, Taunton AC

4) parkrun: Burgess

Isabel Clark, 17:39, Serpentine RC

5) parkrun: Edinburgh

Anna Hedley, 17:41, Fife AC

6=) parkrun: Southampton

Ellie Marie Monks, 17:46, Southampton AC

6=) parkrun: Newcastle

Charlotte Penfold, 17:46, North Shields Polytechnic AC

8) parkrun: Burnley

Annabel Ralph, 17:48, Accrington Road Runners

9) parkrun: Poole

Kate Towerton, 17:50, Winchester and District AC

10) parkrun: Raphael

Emma Prideaux, 17:51, Billericay Striders RC

If you would like to run faster at parkrun, top tips to help runners of all abilities can be found here.

Are you a fan of Fast Running? Then please support us and become a patron. For as little as the price of a monthly magazine you can support Fast Running – and it only takes a minute. Thank you