Andrew Fyfe and Steph Davis ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this week (25th January).
After a stellar 2019 that saw Clapham Chaser Steph Davis run not one, but two absolutely fantastic marathons at London and Valencia, 2020 seems to have started in very much the same vein with a run that puts the Olympic marathon hopeful atop the weekly parkrun rankings.
With a 16:36 at Burgess parkrun, with 4th place Isabel Clark also running at the same event (17:39) it seems Davis has recovered well from Valencia and is in flying form in the build up to London, looking to build on 2:27:40 from December in Spain. We’re excited to see how she runs.
The fastest man chose the same venue as last weekend, Dulwich Park, but changed their name. It’s highly likely Andrew Fyfe is just a different runner who heard that to get a table at the post race cafe is a bit of a scrap, so arrived as quickly as possible. The Edinburgh AC Scot ran 14:45 and was our only runner to break 15 minutes this week. One might imagine a lot of the useful south London parkrunners were over at Parliament Hill for the cross country.
Considering both Davis and Fyfe are Scots, it seems appropriate we had the next runner actually running up in Scotland. Megan Davies, of Sale Harriers Manchester, ran 17:18 at Victoria Park in Glasgow and Power of 10 does tell us that Davies is a Scot herself. The San Francisco university student has more of a middle distance focus, but showed good endurance this weekend.
It’s no surprise that second place male was an Northern Irish athlete Tony McCambridge. A 15:19 run at Belfast Victoria was good enough to pip 3rd place Paul Whittaker by just one second and take the silver for parkrun this weekend.
It’s a relief to see the podiums being filled with Scottish and Northern Irish runners on a day that most English club runners were at their regional cross country championships. It shows that the importance of running up Parliament Hill as hard as you can and then charging though the mud hasn’t been lost. It’s an experience any cross country runner should experience at least once.
Third placed athletes were the talented Hannah Taunton, who clocked 17:22 at Exmouth parkrun and Paul Whittaker, who ran 15:20 at the quick loops at Southend parkrun, actually where my own parkrun best was set, albeit a minute slower than Paul.
Men’s top 10
1) parkrun: Dulwich
Andrew Fyfe, 14:45, Edinburgh AC
2) parkrun: Belfast Victoria
Tony McCambridge, 15:19
3) parkrun: Southend
Paul Whittaker, 15:20, Southend-on-Sea AC
4) parkrun: Springburn, Glasgow
Ryan Thompson, 15:22, Cambuslang Harriers
5) parkrun: Birkenhead
Joseph Morrison, 15:28, West Cheshire AC
6) parkrun: Dolgellau
Andrew Davies, 15:29, Stockport Harriers & AC
7=) parkrun: Worthing
Maxwell Dumbrell, 15:30
7=) parkrun: Bushy
Rowan Axe, 15:30, Cardiff AAC
9) parkrun: Brueton
Simon Nott, 15:32, Calne RC
10) parkrun: Telford
Dylan Gillett, 15:33, Telford AC
Women’s top 10
1) parkrun: Burgess
Stephanie Davis, 16:36, Clapham Chasers RC
2) parkrun: Victoria Park, Glasgow
Megan Davies, 17:18, Sale Harriers Manchester
3) parkrun: Exmouth
Hannah Taunton, 17:22, Taunton AC
4) parkrun: Burgess
Isabel Clark, 17:39, Serpentine RC
5) parkrun: Edinburgh
Anna Hedley, 17:41, Fife AC
6=) parkrun: Southampton
Ellie Marie Monks, 17:46, Southampton AC
6=) parkrun: Newcastle
Charlotte Penfold, 17:46, North Shields Polytechnic AC
8) parkrun: Burnley
Annabel Ralph, 17:48, Accrington Road Runners
9) parkrun: Poole
Kate Towerton, 17:50, Winchester and District AC
10) parkrun: Raphael
Emma Prideaux, 17:51, Billericay Striders RC
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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