Co Tyrone runner Nick Griggs set a new world record at the Victoria parkrun event in Belfast this weekend.
With a time of 13:44, the 19-year-old beat the previous record set in Glasgow by GB Olympian Andy Butchart by one second.
Parkrun stopped recording official ‘records’ for their events in February as part of an effort to not discourage newer entrants.
More: Parkrun 20th anniversary celebrated in Belfast
However, they are still noted amongst the running community.
Griggs, who is from the village of Newmills, joins fellow Irish athlete Ciara Magee in setting the world’s best parkrun times – Magee ran the best time for a woman at 15:13 at the Belfast Victoria event last year.
Parkrun is a global weekly community event that takes place in more than 2,500 locations worldwide, with 39 in Northern Ireland alone.
The event recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, which included a special run at the north’s longest-running parkrun location at Belfast’s Waterworks.
This weekend’s record time is the latest in a promising year for Griggs, who first burst onto the scene after winning the 3000m event at the U20 European Athletics Championships aged just 16.
After setting personal bests in 1500m, 3000m and 5000m events this year, he competed for Ireland at the European Athletics Championships.
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He also narrowly missed out on a place at this year’s Paris Olympics.
The 2024 games were Ireland’s most successful on record thanks to local stars including Armagh’s swimming sensation Daniel Wiffin and Newtonwards’ pommel horse specialist Rhys McClenaghan.
