Finbarr comes back to his roots for new fastest time

Finbarr Bevan travelled to Ireland to take part in Mountlucas parkrun recently.

A native of Reading in England, he regularly travels to Ireland to visit his grandmother and aunts who live in the Portarlington area. Finbarr has been taking part in parkrun since 2022, having completed almost 60 parkruns to date.

Parkrun is a free, weekly, timed 5km event which takes place in a variety of countries worldwide.

While Finbarr has completed most of his parkruns in his home parkrun of Henley-on-Thames parkrun, he has completed five parkruns in Mountlucas parkrun over the last three years when in Ireland visiting family.

His most recent parkrun in Mountlucas was momentous for two reasons- Finbarr was the first finisher and the first person to complete the 5km course on the day, and he also secured a new personal best time (PB). Speaking to Finbarr before the event he outlined that he had been training hard and hoped to secure a new PB. His efforts paid off as he completed the course in a phenomenal 17 minutes 15 seconds. He was supported at the event by his mother Maggi who had also travelled to complete the parkrun with him.

Mountlucas parkrun is a free, weekly, timed 5km event which is open to walkers and runners and takes place at Bord na Móna Mountlucas windfarm at 9.30am sharp on Saturday mornings. Newcomers are always welcome, as well as those who regularly complete their parkrun elsewhere but would like to try out another parkrun. Children are also welcome to take part, as well as dogs (on a short, non-extendable lead). For more information see parkrun.ie/mountlucas