Joshua Cowperthwaite and Philippa Stone are your fastest athletes at UK parkruns this weekend (October 12th).

Up in the North East someone must have lit a fire at the start of Albert parkrun as both male and female first finishers have topped our rankings this week. Maybe they had a 9:15 start and everyone could watch Eluid Kipchoge on their phones beforehand?

Joshua Cowperthwaite is no stranger to a fast 5km, but today’s 14:38 is a new parkrun best for the Middlesborough AC u20, if only by one second. Every second counts when it comes to a PB.

Philippa Stone was also at the same event and ran 17:32, five seconds off her own parkrun PB, but the Durham Uni athlete who excelled over the cross country in 2017 is in great shape just at the start of the muddy season.

Both first finishers from another event, Raphael parkrun near Romford, Essex, feature in our rankings this week. James Connor of Kent AC ran a quick 15:07 at the three lap course, as well as Emma Prideaux, who ran a 17:58 at the same venue. It was a new course record for Connor, who was twenty seconds quicker than Grant Twist’s 2018 mark.

Both ladies at Belfast Victoria parkrun in Northern Ireland were quick enough to feature, with Rachel Gibson second with a 17:33, just one second off the top mark. Louise Hackett was less than 30 second behind and snuck into ninth place.

Emma Navesey of Hayward’s Heath Harriers ran 17:56 at Worthing parkrun, showing her brother Paul, a Fast Running contributor, how to run fast on a Saturday morning. Hopefully Paul can take some family inspiration into Frankfurt Marathon in a couple of weeks time.

We don’t think Eden Project parkrun is that speedy, so it’s no surprise that Bernard Rotich, who ran 15:08 to finish third in the rankings this week, has some healthy PBs. They may a little old, with the latest set in 2011, but you certainly can’t turn your nose up at a 2:10:18 marathon and 61:28 half marathon from eight years ago. This year he did manage a swift 2:18:55 in Belfast in May.

Back in 2008, the Kenyan athlete clocked 13:18.41 for 5000m and 27:09.8 for 10,000m in the space of about two weeks. That must have been a cracking fortnight.

Men’s top 10

1) parkrun: Albert Park, Middlesborough

Joshua Cowperthwaite, 14:38, Middlesborough AC

2) parkrun: Raphael

James Connor, 15:07, Kent AC

3) parkrun: Eden Project

Bernard Rotich, 15:08

4) parkrun: MUSA Cookstown

Eoin Hughes, 15:08, Acorns AC

5) parkrun: Southsea

William Bryan, 15:18, EpUK

6) parkrun: Wyre Forest

William Richardson, 15:18, Birchfield Harriers

7) parkrun: Albert Park, Middlesborough

Gregory Jayasuriya, 15:29, Middlesborough & Cleveland Harriers

8) parkrun: Dulwich

Paul Piper, 15:41, West 4 Harriers

9) parkrun: South Manchester

Nathan Harrison, 15:43, Sale Harriers Manchester

10) parkrun: Edinburgh

Peter Avent, 15:48, Shettleston Harriers

Women’s top 10

1) parkrun: Albert Park, Middlesborough

Philippa Stone, 17:32, Middlesborough AC

2) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Rachel Gibson, 17:33, North Down AC

3) parkrun: Great Denham

Jo Oregan, 17:46, Riverside Runners

4) parkrun: Hull

Georgina Weston, 17:49, Notts AC

5) parkrun: Rother Valley

Emily Gelipter, 17:52

6) parkrun: Burgess

Rose Harvey, 17:53, Clapham Chasers RC

7) parkrun: Worthing

Emma Navesey, 17:56, Haywards Heath Harriers

8) parkrun: Raphael

Emma Prideaux, 17:58, Billericay Striders

9) parkrun: Belfast Victoria

Louise Hackett, 18:01, Wolverhampton & Bilston AC

10) parkrun: Wolverhampton

Lucie Tait-Harris, 18:07

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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