Photo: My Life Films

Adam Clarke and Hayley Carruthers ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this weekend (23rd November).

Adam Clarke smashes it out of the park, Dulwich Park to be exact, with a 14:00 parkrun this Saturday morning. Not far from Andy Baddely’s all time parkrun best of 13:48 and third fastest UK run all time. Funnily enough though it isn’t a course record for the super quick Dulwich course as Alex Yee ran 13:57 there last year.

Worth noting that the Aldershot, Farnham & District’s athlete is a 13:39 5000m runner and ran a fine PB of 3:38.07 for 1500m this August in Switzerland. Just a few weeks ago Clarke was fifth at Leeds Abbey Dash 10k in 28:51. He ran a course record 14:31 at Richmond parkrun earlier this year, but all for a good cause.

The women’s winner is no stranger to fast times either, with parkrun regular Hayley Carruthers returning to some Saturday morning action with a new course record at the gravel pathed Pont y Bala parkrun in Wales. Birchfield Harrier Carruthers ran 17:25 to finish quickest this week by only one second from Emily Thompson.

Thompson was running at one of Carruthers usual haunts of Cannon Hill, Birmingham and clocked a rather large parkrun PB of 17:26 as the U20 hasn’t been at the free Saturday morning event for a while. It brings her parkrun best in line with some of her other strong marks like her 4:24.66 1500m. The middle distance athlete had great success indoors at the start of 2019 and won the BUCS 1500m indoor title.

Supporting the cross country

We are wondering if Daniel Jarvis (14:52 for second) and Josh Lunn (15:27 for ninth) travelled up from Bedford to the wrong park in Liverpool this weekend. Not far from Sefton Park where an almighty cross country battle for European XC places unfolded, both Jarvis and Lunn had strong runs at the Princes Park event, with Jarvis taking a Jonny Mellor course record by a big margin.

It may well have just been a good morning workout for those supporting at Sefton park as a quick glimpse sees names like James Thie and Callum Gillett running the speedy Merseyside event as well.

There were only four women under 18 minutes this week with Charlotte Penfold (17:57) and Hannah Taunton (17:58) the only others. As we normally see with a weekend with big club or cross country races there is a drop in parkrun top ten times for the female athletes, but not so much in the men’s times.

Three men ran under 15 minutes with Ben Branagh posting 14:54 at Waterworks parkrun in Belfast as well.

Courtesy of three runs in the top ten, Walsall Arboretum is the quickest event this weekend but several events feature twice, probably a nod to the benefit of a bit of healthy competition on your Saturday morning shakeout at parkrun.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Dulwich

Adam Clarke, 14:00, Aldershot, Farnham & District AC

2) parkrun: Princes Park, Liverpool

Daniel Jarvis, 14:52, Bedford & County AC

3) parkrun: Waterworks, Belfast

Ben Branagh, 14:54

4) parkrun: Alexandra Park, Moss Side

Thomas Beasley, 15:07, Birchfield Harriers

5) parkrun: South Manchester

Tom Lancashire, 15:18, Bolton United Harriers & AC

6) parkrun: Albert Park, Middlesbrough

Dominic Shaw, 15:20, New Marske Harriers AC

7) parkrun: South Manchester

Karl Darcy, 15:23, Salford Harriers & AC

8) parkrun: Walsall Arboretum

Karl Welborn, 15:24, B.R.A.T. Club

9) parkrun: Princes Park, Liverpool

Josh Lunn, 15:27, Bedford & County AC

10) parkrun: Maesteg

Tom Marshall, 15:29, Brecon AC

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Pont y Bala

Hayley Carruthers, 17:25, Birchfield Harriers

2) parkrun: Cannon Hill, Birmingham

Emily Thompson, 17:26, Banbury Harriers AC

3) parkrun: Newcastle

Charlotte Penfold, 17:57, North Shields Polytechnic AC

4) parkrun: Burnham and Highbridge

Hannah Taunton, 17:58, Taunton AC

5) parkrun: Walsall Arboretum

Becks Timmings, 18:02, Bromsgrove & Redditch AC

6) parkrun: Eastbourne

Harriet Bloor, 18:02, Hailsham Harriers

7) parkrun: Walsall Arboretum

Lucie Tait-Harris, 18:02

8) parkrun: Woodley

Sophie Crumly, 18:05, Reading AC

9) parkrun: Cassiobury

Jo Hickman Dunne, 18:07, Loughborough

10) parkrun: Edinburgh

Kara Tait, 18:11, Kilmarnock Harriers and 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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