Zak Seddon and Georgie Grgec ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this weekend (4th February).
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Rumour has it fireworks we seen between 09:00 and 09:20 in south-east London today. More specifically, in Dulwich park where there was a big bunch of fast runners enjoying a Saturday morning parkrun burn-up.
Leading the pack for the chaps was Zak Seddon, and for the ladies, Georgie Grgec. Both were first finishers at Dulwich parkrun.
Grgec starts 2023 just the same way she finished 2022, with some PB action. A new parkrun personal best of 16:15 to bring it closer to her excellent 5k road PB of 15:54 from the Home Countries International 5K last August. Even as recently as December we saw a PB of 33 minutes flat at Telford 10k and a fortnight ago we saw a win at the Surrey Women’s League Division 1 on the cross country.
Seddon, who has twice been National Champion for 3000m steeplechase, had a busy 2022 with European Champs and Commonwealth Games performances. 14:38 is a parkrun PB and actually quicker than the 5000m and 5k road bests for the GB&NI International, but that’s more likely from not racing them very often. This year has already seen a 10k PB of 30:05 for a win at the Serpentine New Years Day 10K. It was his first 10k race though, so a PB was likely.
The rest of the best
Both the second and third fastest (and the fourth) females all ran under 17 minutes this week. Four men broke 15 minutes too.
Second fastest was Anya Culling, also at Dulwich parkrun, with a 16:41 that took 85 seconds from her previous best. Not hugely surprising given the new marathon PB of 2:36:21 set in London last October but still a promising start to 2023!
Gemma Kersey was next up with 16:43, only two seconds back, at Raphael parkrun. It’s not a parkrun PB, but that is hard to get when you have a 16:07 best! Even so, it’s the quickest in 2023 by almost 30 seconds and on the back of a 33:57 10k at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja earlier in the year.
Nick Bester and James Cameron Hancock were battling it out in Dulwich behind Seddon, with just one second separating them in 14:46 and 14:47 respectively. It equals Bester’s previous parkrun PB from 2021 and it’s still very early in a year that has already seen a 68:11 half marathon and 30:46 10k.
Hancock, of Sutton & District AC, took five seconds from his parkrun best and it’s not far off the 14:37 PB at the Friday Night Under Lights Meets Podium 5K last February. 2023 has started with a 15th at the super competitive South of England XC Championships and looks like he might be on target to get a whole host of PBs, just like last year.
The fastest course?
It was Dulwich. The rugby just finished so I’m going to go and sulk in the corner. Just kidding, it was six performances in the top 10s and very nearly a clean sweep of the podiums too. Excellent work.
Female Rankings
Men’s Rankings