There must be something in the water in Belfast! The Victoria Park parkrun has produced the fastest ever male and female parkrun times now that Ireland's 19-year-old Nick Griggs has run a 'world parkrun record' of 13:44 for the flat, fast, three-lap course around the lake which is the centrepiece of the park opened in 1906 in the Connswater area of Belfast.

Water features heavily in this area. The park sits on marshland near Belfast Lough that Belfast Harbour Commissioners drained. The huge Belfast Docks cranes can be seen from the parkrun course, where the first run was held in May 2011.

Last December, Ireland's Ciara Mageean ran 15:13 at Victoria Park parkrun to eclipse the previous women's parkrun fastest time set by Welsh athlete Melissa Courtney-Bryant by 18 seconds. Courtney-Bryant had run 15:31 at Poole parkrun on Christmas Eve in 2022 for the world's best time.

It was on 9 November 2024 that the talented Tyrone teenager took one second off the time set by Scotland's Andy Butchart on his parkrun debut at the Silverknowes Edinburgh parkrun (13:45). Before the Central AC athlete's intervention, the best male time had lasted 11 years since the 'Harrow Arrow' Andy Baddeley had run 13:48 at Bushy Park – the original home of parkrun – in August 2012.

parkrun UK celebrated Griggs' achievement by posting on Facebook: "We love the personal achievements of everyone in the parkrun community. Congratulations to Nick Griggs on setting a new fastest parkrun time of 13:44 at Belfast Victoria parkrun on Saturday. This was one of an amazing 51,356 parkrun PBs set this weekend. Well done everyone." The post has received nearly 2,000 reactions and almost 350 positive comments.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster after the run Griggs said: “I don’t think anyone really knew until we finished. I looked at my watch and saw I had taken a second off the world record. It was pretty shocking. I wasn’t really thinking about it, to be honest. We all realised after and there was a bit of a buzz around it.”

One week after his parkrun exploits, Griggs placed seventh on his senior debut in the Irish Cross Country Championships in Enniskillen to qualify for the 30th SPAR European Cross Country Championships under-23 race in Antalya, Turkey on 8 December 2024.

If you are inspired by Nick Griggs' record and want to try a parkrun at your own pace, click here to find your local event. All standards are welcome and parkrun is Free, For Everyone, Forever.

Photo of Nick Griggs via Facebook