An 8-year-old boy from Poole, Dorset ran a 5K (3.1 miles) in 18 minutes and 45 seconds during October and is now ranked 1st in Britain for his under 11s age category. Louis Robinett, a member of Poole Runners Juniors, recorded this time at Poole parkrun on the 8th of October with an age grade of 90.27%.
Age grading takes an athlete’s time and uses the world record time for gender and age to produce a percentage score. Above 90% is graded as World Class Level.
After his personal best effort, Louis said, “I was very happy to get sub 19 minutes at parkrun. I found it hard, but I never like giving up. My older brother always beats me so I’m aiming to get him one day.”
Louis’ father, Paul Robinett, reached out to parkrun HQ: “I asked if my son’s time was a record for his age category and parkrun confirmed the time was the fastest. I’m extremely proud of Louis. He is naturally determined and loves running.”
According to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS), Louis’ fastest parkrun time is 6 seconds off the world record for is age. With a total of 19 parkruns and 12 Junior parkruns under his belt since April 2022, Louis now ranks first place on Run Britain rankings. He has taken part in the Club Mile with a time of 5:51:8 and won the first Poole and East Dorset School Sports Association (PEDSSA) u11 cross-country race of the season.
Coming from a sporting family, Louis’ parents also take older brother Evan (18:29 PB) and sister Zara (22:10 PB) to parkrun on a regular basis. All his club events adhere to UKA/EA recommended distances.
Louis trains two nights a week with his athletics club Poole Runners at Ashdown track in Canford Heath. Jim Windebank, an endurance coach from Poole Runners, said, “Louis came to us with his older brother and sister, who are also very talented. However, Louis stood out straight away with his willingness to push himself, while having such a resilient mindset for someone so young. We are very fortunate to have Louis at our club and we will continue to work with him to help achieve his future goals along with all our junior members.”
