William Richardson and Hayley Carruthers are your fastest athletes at UK parkruns this weekend (August 10th).

The Hayley Carruthers parkrun project continues with another excellent run at Walsall Arboretum. The Birchfield Harrier ran 16:01, three seconds slower than her personal best for the course, but on a day when it seems everyone else in the country ran a little slower due to windy conditions.

It was a Birchfield Harriers double as William Richardson was the fastest male at Cannon Hill parkrun, also in the Midlands. The U23 athlete ran 14:37.46 last weekend to win the B race at the B.A.L Premiership match in Birmingham and posted 15:04 today to continue a fine 2019 for the youngster.

Beth Hawling ran exactly the same time as last weekend, 17:29, but shot up the UK parkrun rankings this weekend. Windy running in the UK seems to have affected the average times for our top ten, but tough times are when tough athletes shine through. Howling is fresh from a 16:48 road 5k PB at the Self Transcendence 5k in Battersea Park a few weeks ago and followed that up with a string of parkrun first finisher efforts at Hackney Marshes, Southwark and Mile End.

Easing forward up the rankings

Peter Avent took it a bit easier this week (maybe) but jumped up from fifth in the rankings to joint second. All about picking the right week it seems Peter. The Shettleston Harrier ran exactly the same time as Eoin Hughes at MUSA Cookstown parkrun. The Acorns AC man has PB’d at nearly every distance in 2019.

There has been a 69:14 half marathon, 31:32 10k, 53:24 10 miler and a 9:02.7 3000m for Hughes, although Power of 10 has him running 32:43.1 for 1000m in July, which seems a bit slow.

Julia Bijl is another athlete who has been running some cracking PBs in 2019. The London Heathside U23 must have taken some inspiration from seeing her club mate Seyfu Jamaal in the top ten rankings and decided to join him with a 17:39 at Hackney Marshes, good enough for third this week. Bijl ran an excellent 2:56:19 at London Marathon this year as well, alongside an 82:08 at Surrey Half Marathon.

It seems it was a battle of the clubs this weekend, but only one could come out on top. Birchfield Harriers took both top spots and had a third runner in the rankings too with Carli Baldwin also at Walsall Arboretum.

Kudos is due to Dan Robinson, better known as “Hayley’s coach” in this article usually. Clearly frustrated with being second fiddle, Robinson won the sprint to the line with his athlete this week and ran 15:53 to tie for 10th spot in the rankings. We know you can go faster than that Dan, let’s see you in the top five next time!

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Cannon Hill, Birmingham

William Richardson, 15:04, Birchfield Harriers

2=) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown

Eoin Hughes, 15:26, Acorns AC

2=) parkrun:Edinburgh

Peter Avent, 15:26, Shettleston Harriers

4) parkrun:Mile End

Alex Carter, 15:28, Team Bath AC

5) parkrun: Tooting Common

Seyfu Jamaal, 15:29, London Heathside

6) parkrun: Edinburgh

Ewan Cameron, 15:34, Victoria Park Harriers & Tower Hamlets AC

7) parkrun: Swindon

Jack Bancroft, 15:35, Wells City Harriers

8) parkrun: Bury St Edmunds

Sebastian Anthony, 15:37, West Suffolk AC

9) parkrun: Dishley, Loughborough

Matthew Willis, 15:49, Wrexham AAC

10=) parkrun: Swindon

Gary Laybourne, 15:53, South London Harriers

10=) parkrun: Walsall Arboretum

Daniel Robinson, 15:53, B.R.A.T Club

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Walsall Arboretum

Hayley Carruthers, 16:01, Birchfield Harriers

2) parkrun: Burgess

Beth Hawling, 17:29, Cheltenham & County Harriers

3) parkrun: Hackney Marshes

Julia Bijl, 17:39, London Heathside

4) parkrun: Westmill

Annabel Gummow, 17:53, Winchester & District AC

5) parkrun: Eden Project

Nicola Squires, 18:00, Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield AC

6) parkrun: Walsall Arboretum

Carlo Baldwin, 18:04, Birchfield Harriers

7) parkrun: Conkers

Hannah Stroud, 18:08, University of Manchester Cross Country Club

8) parkrun: Edinburgh

Isla Calvert, 18:09, Livingston AC

9) parkrun: Drumpellier Country

Jennifer Wetton, 18:10, Central AC

10=) parkrun: Chelmsford Central

Nikki Woodyard, 18:11, Springfield Strides RC

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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