Daniel Jarvis and Liz Davies ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this weekend (21st December).

There were three men under 15 minutes and two women under 17 minutes in a good day for fast parkruns. It’s the time of year that we see athletes going home for Christmas and escaping to run around the park as quickly as possible.

Daniel Jarvis posted 14:39 at Birkenhead parkrun to get himself a new parkrun to end the year on a high. The 3:48.82 1500m man actually has a parkrun best that is quicker than his 5k and 5000m PBs, but wouldn’t have been far from a road 5k PB when he ran 22:24 and finished 30th at the 7.3km Course de l’Escalade in Geneva at the end of November

Elizabeth Davies has topped the parkrun rankings multiple times and the Springfield Strider has had an excellent 2019. The V40 athlete, like Jarvis, grabs a new best for the Saturday morning social at Dulwich Park in south-east London in 16:41.

A slight change to the rankings

With the addition of Belfast Victoria results it seems we have an addition to the top three. Conall Kirk, of Lagan Valley AC, ran a fantastic 14:44 to lead a whole host of fast times. So many fast times that we even went on Strava to check it wasn’t about 2 miles long (it was full distance this weekend) so it was just down to some excellent, competitive running.

Leading the charge around Dulwich was Olympian Jake Wightman. The 800/1500m international is known to pop down to a quick parkrun for a Saturday morning shakeout and has finished first at Worthing, Bushy Park and Reigate Priory events in 2018.

Today the 3:52 miler ran 14:46 to finish third in our rankings and was joined by two other athletes in the top ten from Dulwich.

Up in Middlesbrough (I hope I’ve spelt it correctly this week) there was another sub 17 minute run for Holly Alexandra Archer of Cambridge and Coleridge AC. Archer has had an exquisite 2019 so far with a swathe of PBs from 800m all the way up to 10 miles.

The one other athlete to break 15 minutes this weekend was young Joshua Cowperthwaite, also up in Middlesbrough, who as recently ran 29:35 at Leeds Abbey Dash, although as the 23m short of the full 10k it wasn’t a new PB. Hopefully Josh gets a chance to break the 3o minute barrier again soon.

Third lady in the rankings was Ty Brockley-Langford who clocked 17:10 at Worsley Woods, just eight seconds ahead of Sale Harriers club mate Sinead Bent. A good healthy bit of competition to get a healthy parkrun best for both of the young stars who focus on shorter distance events.

The quickest event of the weekend was Belfast Victoria, which updated a little bit after we published this article initially. It must have been a real party and they certainly went round the park a lot quicker than I did at the 24hr World Championships there in 2016. A lot quicker.

On the fast concrete loop in the Belfast park Andrew Milligan was another runner to break 15 minutes (14:52) whilst Lukes Dinsmore (15:14) and James Hamilton (15:16) were not far behind. For the women there was even Rachel Gibson (17:15) and Jessica Anne Craig (17:32) in the top ten at the event too.

We better update the rankings now (although we will still include everyone who originally made the rankings).

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Birkenhead

Daniel Jarvis, 14:39, Bedford & County AC

2) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Conall Kirk, 14:44, Lagan Valley AC

3) parkrun: Dulwich

Jake Wightman, 14:46, Edinburgh AC

4) parkrun: Albert Park, Middlesbrough

Joshua Cowperthwaite, 14:47, Middlesbrough AC

5) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Andrew Milligan, 14:52, North Belfast Harriers

6) parkrun: Portrush

Neil Johnston, 15:08, Springwell RC

7=) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Luke Dinsmore, 15:14, Springwell RC

7=) parkrun: York

Jack Wood, 15:14, Ilkley Harriers AC

9=) parkrun: Sixmilewater

Mark McKinstry, 15:15, North Belfast Harriers

9=) parkrun: Victoria Dock

Seyfu Jamaal, 15:15, London Heathside

11) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

James Hamilton, 15:16, Ballymena Runners AC

12) parkrun: Ferry Meadows

James McCrae, 15:21, Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield AC

13=) parkrun: Rushcliffe

Dominic Nolan, 15:22, Oxted School

13=) parkrun: Widnes

Joseph Buckley, 15:22, Warrington AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Dulwich

Elizabeth Davies, 16:41, Springfield Striders RC

2) parkrun: Albert Park, Middlesborough

Holly Alexandra Archer, 16:52, Cambridge and Coleridge AC

3) parkrun: Worsley Woods

Ty Brockley-Langford, 17:10, Salford Harriers & AC

4) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Rachel Gibson, 17:15, North Down AC

5) parkrun: Worsley Woods

Sinead Bent, 17:18, Salford Harriers & AC

6) parkrun: Dulwich

Georgie Hartigan, 17:23

7) parkrun: Stretford

Megan Davies, 17:25, Sale Harriers Manchester

8) parkrun: Kingswood, Gloucester

Emily Stacey, 17:28

9) parkrun: Walsall Arboretum

Claire Martin, 17:29, Telford AC

10) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Jessica Anne Craig, 17:32, North Down AC

11) parkrun: Heslington

Georgina Weston, 17:36, Notts AC

12=) parkrun: Delamere

Grace Roberts, 17:40, Vale Royal AC

12=) parkrun: Albert Park, Middlesbrough

Philippa Stone, 17:40, Middlesbrough AC

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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