Philippa Stone and Jed Noblett ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this weekend (18th November).
Our weekly parkrun top ten is now sponsored by Vertebrate Publishing (my publisher) and here’s a link to buy my book on their website. They actually have a bunch of great books to choose from, especially the mountaineering ones, so don’t feel like you have to buy 1001 Running Tips.
Philippa Stone is no stranger to the parkrun rankings on our website, and this week she tops the pile with a 16:50 at Albert parkrun, Middlesbrough. The cross country star has shown some impressive parkrun consistency this year with this being Stone’s second 16:50 and the other run being a 16:49. Looking good for the muddy running to come in the next few months!
Middle distance runner Jed Noblett has had a belter of a 2023 so far so it’s only fitting that he runs an excellent parkrun PB and tops our chart this week with 14:46 at Great Denham parkrun. From 800m on the track (1:55.28) to 10k on the road (29:11), the Luton AC U23 has been in great running form this year, so hats off to him and coach Gordon Addison.
The best of the rest
A virtual dead heat for the ladies sees Beth Barlow and Bryony Gunn shares the second placed honours this week after both stopped the clock with 16:57. It’s not the first parkrun PB of the year for Barlow, who brings it down from 17:11 in July and more recently was running well at the ECCA National Cross Country Relays at the start of the month.
Gunn ran her fastest parkrun of the year and less than 10 seconds from her 2022 parkrun PB of 16:48. This comes off the back of a huge 10k PB of 33:13 at the competitive Leeds Abbey Dash in October.
At Five Arches parkrun it was Ben Cole who ran the second quickest male time of the week with 15:10. Tonbridge AC’s 2:24 marathoner has been busy in 2023 and has new Pbs for 5k (14:06 at Armagh) and half marathon (65:40 at Riga Half Marathon in Latvia). Overseas racing seems to work well for Mr. Cole… he’s not long back from running 2:26 at Chicago marathon too.
Seyd Taha Ghafari was third in our rankings with 15:12 at Strathclyde parkrun today. The Iranian is another athlete who has clocked plenty of PBs this year with a new 14:10 for 5k at Armagh in February and has run well in the relays and the cross country throughout 2023!
The fastest event this weekend?
I nearly titled this “the best event” of the weekend, but actually so much more goes into which event is best (like cakes, volunteers, how lovely the park is etc.) so this is the fastest event of the weekend. It looks like Dulwich and Stretford both featured twice, but Dulwich takes it as Streford is actually 10th and 11th, but such a close race meant the top 10 extended a wee bit this week.
Women’s Rankings
Men’s Rankings