The previous record, established by Great Britain Olympian Andy Butchart in Edinburgh in June 2023, was lowered by one second thanks to the Newmills runner's time over the 5km course. Ciara Mageean, another Irish international athlete, set the women's world record at the Belfast site last December with a time of 15 minutes and 13 seconds.

Parkrun refers to its events as a "run and not a race" and does not consider times to be world records or even world bests.

When Griggs, then 16 years old, won the European Under-20 3,000m title in the summer of 2021, he made his athletic debut. He has since won more European Under-20 track and cross country gold, and this year, in his first senior season, he competed for Ireland in the 1500m at the European Championships in Rome.

Andrew Coscoran, Luke McCann, and Cathal Doyle defeated the 19-year-old, who will turn 20 next month, in the 1500m selection process, denying him a spot on Ireland's Olympic squad.