THE Barrow parkrun course record has been smashed by 37 seconds – only six seconds slower than Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah’s parkrun record.

Barrow runner Phil Waite, 28, who held the previous record of 15 minutes 49 seconds, extended his lead at the top of the weekly race on Saturday.

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Mr Waite clocked a time of 15 minutes 12 seconds in the 5km race held in Barrow Park, and said it didn’t feel like a record breaking run.


LEGEND Olympic gold medallist and world champion Mo Farah He said: “It didn’t feel special but I was going out with my friends that night so wanted to put in a good shift.

“I train six days a week consistently, running cross countries and summer tracks.

“I’ve been running the race since it started in 2011 but I haven’t changed my training for this race.”

Mr Waite was unaware that his new personal best was only six seconds off Olympic gold medalist and current World Champion Mo Farah’s Bushy parkrun record, although that was on a flat course.

Mr Waite added: “I don’t think I will beat the record any time soon.”

The world parkrun record is held by Andrew Baddeley, who completed the Bushy parkrun in 13:48.

Lizzie Adams from Ulverston holds the women’s Barrow parkrun record of 16:24, which she set on January 21, 2012.

Saturday saw 38 people from the 163 runners present record new personal bests, and eight people made their first race appearance.

Local youngster Fraser Symon was second over the line in 18:18 and Craig Dawes was third with a time of 19:38.

In the women’s standings, Emma Broadbent was first (20th overall) over the line in 22:37, with Janice Callister crossing second and earning a new personal best time of 22:55.

The annual points tables for the parkrun is only two weeks old, so the top of the table is dominated by volunteers, with parkrunners being awarded 100 points for volunteering for up to three events per year.

Parkrun was organised to encourage people to get active and inspire a healthy lifestyle.

Barrow parkrun started on September 24 2011, and since then 2,457 different runners, including participants from 215 athletics clubs, have completed 21,816 runs covering a total distance of 109,080 km, and there have been 4,472 new personal bests.

To register, see www.parkrun.org.uk .