'Buzzing' - Griggs was 'not trying' to break record

Youngster Scratch Griggs concedes he didn't embark on breaking the Parkrun world record in the wake of accomplishing the accomplishment in Belfast on Saturday.

The Area Tyrone 19-year-old timed 13 minutes 44 seconds for the 5km distance as he cut one second off the past best set by Extraordinary England Olympian Andy Butchart in Edinburgh in June 2023.

Griggs said he was "humming" when he understood he had broken the record at Victoria Park, saying he was regarding it as a "hard run out" in front of the Irish Crosscountry Titles.

"I wasn't going into it attempting to break the record," Griggs said on BBC Radio Ulster.

"Before the race, I realized I was looking great and realized I ought to be inside a possibility of breaking the record.

"It was somewhat of a run finish to get it yet it was a nice sentiment."

While Parkrun doesn't order times as world records, portraying its occasions as a "run and not a race", it is the second record to be set at the Belfast scene in a year after individual Irish global sprinter Ciara Mageean, 32, set a best ladies' season of 15mins 13secs in December.

Griggs, who burst onto the games scene in the late spring of 2021 when he won the European Under-20 3,000m title as a 16-year-old, passed up determination for the Paris Olympics yet has answered by setting individual outclasses over 1500m, 3,000m, and 5,000m.

Griggs, who is i real life at the Irish Crosscountry Titles in Enniskillen on 17 November, additionally has an eye on the European Titles in Turkey.

"Our preparation bunch does the Parkrun the week before the Irish Crosscountry Titles as a hard run out so we can feel the aggravation a tad and get ready," said Griggs, who said his timetable was "occupied yet entirely charming".

"I don't think anybody truly knew until we wrapped up. I checked the time and saw I had required a second off the world record," he added.

"It was really surprising. I wasn't actually mulling over everything, frankly.

"We as a whole acknowledged later and there was somewhat of a buzz around it."