Siblings break record for fastest 5K park run

By Isobel Williams

A pair of speedy siblings are causing a sensation on the London parkrun circuit after BOTH breaking 5K records—aged just 10 and 9.

Older brother Daniyal Janmohamed and sister Lily clocked sub-20-minute times in Battersea, southwest London.

For men, the average time it takes to finish a 5K is 29 minutes; while for women, the average 5K time is 38 minutes.

Lily's time of 19 minutes and 45 seconds is the current British record for a 9-year-old girl.

And Daniyal's time of 18 minutes and 3 seconds was also a record—until it was broken last weekend.

Proud dad Faizal Janmohamed, 41, says he has no idea how he has such athletic kids as he is not a runner himself.

But he supports their love of it—and wants to see how far they can go.

The pair do often get competitive with each other over races, but the dad says that it is always friendly.

Faizal, a marketing worker from Stanmore, northwest London, said: “They are both very competitive, especially with each other.

“They are very passionate and they train very hard because they want to be the best at what they do.

“Lily will tease her brother that she has the higher age grading, and her brother will tell her that when he was 9 years old, he got a time of 18:19.

“So, it is friendly banter between both siblings, but they are both very close and they love running together.”

Daniyal started running three years ago when he took part in a school competition and was surprisingly fast, placing fourth out of 60 boys.

After this, he fell in love with the sport and started training three times a week at a running club, as well as always taking part in races at his school.

Lily was then inspired to start running herself after seeing her big brother excel, training at the same club as him and quickly smashing records for her age.

Faizal said: “When Daniyal started running, Lily wanted to join too.

“Many times I thought she would stop, but she stuck at it, and there is nothing more she loves than going for a running training session.

“They both run together in events for their club and it is so nice to see brother and sister competing together, brother in the boys race and sister in the girls race.

“Both of my children are quite good endurance runners. Daniyal especially has very good stamina. His body is used to running longer distances.”

The sporty siblings have a healthy diet, according to their dad, and stick to a good sleep routine.

Daniyal has dreams of being a marathon runner, as well as hoping to play table tennis professionally—as he is currently ranked fourth in the U.K. for his age group in the sport.

Lily's favorite distance is 800 meters, which she presently runs at 2:39, while Daniyal's favorite track distance is 1,500 and he is hoping to get a sub-five minutes this season.

They both want to keep developing together and their dream is to run for England in the Olympics.

Faizal said: “Daniyal is also very supportive of Lily and helps her navigating her watch.

“I am very happy to see them excelling but the most important thing is them enjoying it. The best thing for me is that I never have to push them to do it.”

Both kids have achieved record-breaking times at Battersea Parkrun, the dad says, despite not knowing there were records at the time and only running three 5K races a year.

According to the organizers, across the U.K. last week around 8% of those taking part in the event were aged between 4 and 19, meaning there is some competition.

Daniyal said: "I wanted to get a sub-18-minute time before I turn 11, and I knew it would be really difficult since my last run was in February. But I was determined to do it.

"I don't think my dad thought I would make it, but I pushed him to let me try anyway. I'm so happy I did it. I knew I could. The first 3K felt amazing. I felt really strong. But the last 2 kilometers got tough.

"When my dad's friend told us that I had broken the 10-year-old boys record at Battersea Parkrun, I was over the moon as I didn't even know it existed!"

Lily added: "Running makes me feel so free and strong, like I can do anything. I love chasing new goals and getting better each time.

"I’m going to keep training hard and keep believing in myself, just like everyone believes in me."