Ireland’s Nick Griggs set a new world’s best time for the Parkrun when he clocked 13 minutes and 44 seconds at Victoria Park in Belfast on Saturday.
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The Newmills runner’s time for the 5km distance cut one second off the previous mark set by Great Britain Olympian Andy Butchart in Edinburgh in June 2023.
The women’s world best was also set at the Belfast venue last December when Griggs’ fellow Irish international athlete Ciara Mageean clocked 15 minutes and 13 seconds.
Parkrun does not classify times as world records or indeed world bests with the organisation describing its events as a “run and not a race”.
Personal bests
Griggs burst on to the athletics scene in the summer of 2021 when he won the European Under-20 3 000m title as a 16-year-old.
Griggs, who will turn 20 next month, missed out on a place in Ireland’s Paris Olympics 2024 team as he was pipped for 1 500m selection by Andrew Coscoran, Luke McCann and Cathal Doyle.
However, Griggs regrouped from that disappointment to produce personal bests over 1 500m, 3 000m and 5 000m in recent months.
What’s your best Parkrun time – and how many have you completed?
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