Alex Eykelbosch and Jack Pickett ran the fastest parkrun times in the UK this weekend (26th October).

Our weekly parkrun top ten is now sponsored by the Coggiola Endurance Centre, a residential coaching and performance facility in the Italian Alps. Follow on Instagram for more updates in the new future. 

Alex Eykelbosch ran 17:00 at University Parks parkrun in Oxford to top the women’s rankings this week. That time is fifteen seconds faster than second on the rankings. It is her fifth visit to the course in 2024 and her second fastest – just nine seconds shy of her best of 16:51 set in June. It’s been an excellent year for the Dacorum athlete, who’s range has extended from the 1500m to a marathon debut. A 16:18 PB at the Adidas Podium Home Nations in Cardiff in August suggests there may be more to come.

At Shrewsbury parkrun, Jack Pickett ran 15:03 to top the men’s rankings for the second time this month. The prolific parkrunner has run on 28 Saturday mornings this year, and at 315 parkruns in total. This weekend was a course best, and twenty seconds shy of his fastest parkrun from Telford three weeks ago.

Best of the Rest

Ellarose Whitworth set the fastest time of the weekend with a 17:15 outing at Thonock Lane Farm. The U17 impressively has a parkrun best of 16:59 earlier this year and impressively ran 16:47 for 5k earlier this month. Emily Davies’ time of 17:24 at Folkestone is her fastest parkrun by a considerable margin; 22 seconds to be precise. The London Heathside athlete (who is in need of a parkrun profile update!)’s time is also faster than her road PB. A great morning to be on the south coast!

It was a tightly bunched list amongst the men, with only five seconds separating the top three. Andrew Douglas ran 15:05 at Aviemore for second, and Harry Johnson 15:08 at Huddersfield for third. It was Andrew’s second parkrun of the year and over one minute faster than that last one, Thurso in July. Harry ran a parkrun PB of two seconds, his fifth improvement of the year. It is no surprise perhaps given he has run 14:34 on the roads this year.

Fastest Event

With Dulwich the only event to appear more than once this weekend, it takes the honours of the fastest. Thanks to a tie for tenth amongst the men, it has four appearances on a list with quite a spread of venues.