Talented pair smash the record books at Gympie region parkrun

Curran, an elite runner dating back to his teen years as an Australian representative at the World Junior Cross Country and Commonwealth Youth Games, smashed the 5km trail in just 17 minutes and 48 seconds

Star runners Lillian Price and Jack Curran were all smiles after their record-breaking Victory Heights parkrun effort on Saturday.

Superstar Gympie runner Jack Curran and his partner Lillian Price have left the Victory Heights trail parkrun community in a “buzz” over the weekend, obliterating the men’s and women’s track records respectively with incredible times.

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Curran, an elite runner dating back to his teen years as an Australian representative at the World Junior Cross Country and Commonwealth Youth Games, smashed the 5km trail in just 17 minutes and 48 seconds on Saturday morning, averaging about three and a half minutes per kilometre.

Brisbane native Price, who placed fourth in the 2018 Commonwealth Games 800m trials, posted a blistering time of 21 minutes and 10 seconds to join Curran as a local record breaker.

Curran said he had not gone into Saturday’s run with the intention of taking home the fastest course times.

“I didn’t go out there to break the record or anything, it just happened,” he said.

2012 Race the Rattler teams winner Patrick Tierman and Jack Curran (right). Craig Warhurst/The Gympie Times

“It’s a great course. I’ve done a fair few parkruns around south east Queensland, and it’s not the quickest course in the world but in terms of enjoyment it’s probably one of the best.

“It’s very technical compared to a parkrun in Brisbane that might be dead flat on concrete the whole way.

“It’s like the mountain bike track and it’s all through those single track trails, it makes it pretty interesting.”

In a similar vein to his own mentality, Price had also originally gone along for the run looking for a bit of fun.

But Curran said his partner’s competitive streak kicked in shortly after crossing the starting line.

“Normally I go down to Brisbane on the weekends, but last weekend we were up in Gympie and she was the same as me, she was just going out there for a jog,” Curran said.

“But she got about 500 metres in and the competitive juices started flowing a bit so she decided to have a crack.”

WHERE IT AL BEGAN: Gympie long distance runner Jack Curran, pictured at Albert Park in about 2011.

The 27-year-old will return to the Victory Heights track again this weekend, and while “a string of injuries” have halted his competitive career for some time, Curran said he hasn’t ruled out making a return later in life.

“Half the battle is knowing how hard to push yourself, there’s a few bits in the run where I could’ve pushed a bit harder but I’ll have a crack again this week,” Curran said.

“The main thing for me at the moment is being active and getting out there for a run. I would love to be competitive again.

“I’m still pretty young for running, there are marathon competitors in their early to mid forties. I’ll just see how I go, I’m happy to be enjoying it at the moment.”

Victory Heights Trail parkrun is run for free from Bath Terrace at 7am every Saturday morning.