Kevin Skinner and Naomi Taschimowitz are your fastest athletes at UK parkruns this weekend (July 6th).

As parkrun celebrate the slowing down of average times in general, as a sign that more people are having the confidence to get out and try the best way to spend a Saturday morning, Fast Running is also celebrating a slower average top ten this week.

With last week being one of the fastest top tens for both male and female athletes, this week it has been a wee bit slower than normal and we love that. We see it as a sign that our fastest parkrun athletes have headed to one of the best nights in our sport, The Highgate Harriers Nights of the 10,000 PB’s.

parkrun is great for training, setting a new parkrun best time and practicing the art of racing, but we love it when we see athletes supporting great events like the one at Highgate and tying up their laces to face the best domestic talent around.

Enough of us getting on a soapbox, there were still some great quick times at parkrun and the quickest chap of the lot this week was Kevin Skinner of Newham & Essex Beagles. The 2:21 marathoner hasn’t raced much since 2013 so it’s great to see him back in action at Ellenbrook Fields parkrun. The V35 has a 14:19.1 best for 5000m, so has some serious wheels!

Naomi Taschimowitz broke 17 minutes to top the women’s rankings this week with a great run at Hackney Marshes. It’s not too far from Highgate so maybe the Shaftesbury Barnet athlete, who placed third at the English 10,000m Champs at FASTFRiday recently, is just warming up for later.

With a 5000m best of 15:54.14 and a new 10,000m mark of 34:17.99 from that excellent recent outing at the Orion Harriers track event, Taschimowitz is clearly in excellent form and it is great to see her top of our rankings.

Funnily enough there was a virtual sprint finish for 10th place this week in the women’s rankings with three ladies hitting 18:18 to sneak into the final spot. Alexa Joel, Sarah Grant and Sophie Wood all clocked the same time in different areas of the UK. The parkrun events were in Essex, Northern Ireland and Manchester, showing the wealth of talent across the UK.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Ellenbrook Fields

Kevin Skinner, 15:30, Newham & Essex Beagles

2) parkrun: Peterborough

Joey Croft, 15:33, Huntingdonshire AC

3) parkrun: Dulwich

Ben Shearer, 15:36, Cambridge Harriers

4) parkrun: Shrewsbury

Jack Pickett, 15:39, Wolverhampton & Bilston AC

5) parkrun: Ashford

Louis Small, 15:41, Ashford AC

6) parkrun: Bushy

Andrius Jaksevicius, 15:42, Belgrave Harriers

7) parkrun: Portobello, Edinburgh

Peter Avent, 15:42, Shettleston Harriers

8) parkrun: Chipping Sodbury

Michael Kallenberg, 15:44, Carmarthen & District Harriers AC

9) parkrun: Kingsbury Water

Tom Fairbrother, 15:44, Ranelagh Harriers

10) parkrun: Great Denham

Alex Ash, 15:47, Wellingborough & District AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Hackney Marshes

Naomi Taschimowitz, 16:52, Shaftesbury Barnet

2) parkrun: Newcastle

Charlotte Penfold, 17:16, North Shields Polytechnic AC

3) parkrun: Chipping Sodbury

Eilidh Bell, 17:52, Team Bath AC

4) parkrun: Highbury Fields

Beth Hawling, 17:55, Cheltenham & County Harriers

5) parkrun: Kingsbury Water

Chrissie Wellington, 17:58, B.R.A.T.

6) parkrun: Lowestoft

Samantha Lines, 18:11, Waveney Valley AC

7) parkrun: King’s Lynn

Amy Buckingham, 18:13, Team Purser Running Group

8) parkrun: Jersey

Rachel Gibson, 18:14, North Down AC

9) parkrun: Great Denham

Jo Oregan, 18:15, Riverside Runners

10=) parkrun: Billericay

Alexa Joel, 18:18, Billericay Striders RC

10=) parkrun: Derry City

Sarah Grant, 18:18, North Down AC

10=) parkrun: Fletcher Moss

Sophie Wood, 18:18, Salford Harriers & AC

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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