Highlights
- Lily Janmohamed, 9, ran 5k in 19 minutes and 45 seconds at Battersea Parkrun.
- Her time places her among the fastest runners in the country on Parkrun's age-grading calculator.
- Lily was already the fastest eight-year-old girl in Parkrun history with a time of 20:16.
Lily finished 142nd in a field of 1,009 runners and said she was not even thinking about breaking a record.
"I just wanted to run a good race and see what time I could do. I'm over the moon with my time. Running makes me feel so free and strong like I can do anything," she told The Times.
Her time scored 88.86 per cent on Parkrun's age-grading calculator which rates anything over 80 per cent as among the fastest runners in the country and anything over 90 per cent as world-class.
Proud father speaks
Faizal Janmohamed, 41, who runs a marketing company told The Times that he was "incredibly proud" of his daughter.
"The way she combines her natural ability with her determination and love for running is amazing to see.
She just really enjoys it and finds it effortless. She has got an abundance of energy," he added.
In 2023 Louis Robinett set a Parkrun world record for a nine-year-old boy running 5k in 17 minutes and 40 seconds at Poole Parkrun in Dorset.
Liz Bosanquet a school running club coach who runs Riverside Runners for primary schoolchildren in Hackney noted that children were often underestimated as runners.
"We underestimate children's ability. They are running around all the time but somehow the idea of them doing a race still seems surprising," she said.
She added that children who ran before school started the day in a better mood and more ready to learn. "The kids are getting faster. They are catching up with the adults," she said.
