Portaferry's Ciara Mageean breaks Parkrun women's world record with Belfast time

Posting a time of 15 minutes 13 seconds over 5k in Victoria Park, Mageean beat the previous world-best Parkrun time set by a woman when Melissa Courtney-Bryant last year finished in 15:31.

The Parkrun series was established in 2004, with the official website motto ‘weekly, free, 5k, for everyone, forever’. As a result, Mageean’s time will not register on any official 5k world record rankings – but her performance on the way to third place overall marks another highlight in a memorable 2023.

The 31-year-old’s year included fourth in the World Athletics Championships’ 1500m final, alongside breaking Irish 1500m and 800m records.

On Friday, Mageean was announced as winner of the BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year award.

Next year’s schedule will centre on the Olympic Games in Paris.

Following news of her BBC Northern Ireland honour, Mageean said: "I'm thrilled to receive this award, especially with the calibre of athletes that we have in Northern Ireland being just phenomenal. I can't thank everybody enough.

"This is just a reflection on the performances that I've had, but I wouldn't be here without the support of everybody at home. I'm away a lot racing but I love coming back home because it reminds me what I do it for.

"I want to thank everybody in our community for being behind me every step of the way because honestly, if sheer will of support could get me a global medal, I know that everybody screaming at the TV would have gotten me that gold. I'm truly blessed to be from our wee part of the world."