An eight-year-old girl ran five kilometres in what’s believed to be a world record time - but said she was disappointed she didn’t go even faster.
Gabrielle Hall took part in the 5k park run at Stewart Park on Saturday and clocked an incredible time of 20 minutes and 30 seconds.
This broke the age grade record in the run - and even bettered her grandad and training partner John Hall’s personal best.
But amazingly, after the run Gabrielle felt she could have done even better.
Mum Jenni said: “She has a watch and times herself. All of the family go along to watch her and cheer her on.
“She has been desperate to break the age grade record at the park, and when she passed us she said ‘mum I’m going to do it’.
“When she finished she was actually disappointed, and told us that she felt she could have gone even faster. That is how focused she is.”
Gabrielle, whose talent was first spotted at a school sports day, said: “I felt good when I was running. I was proud and I was very happy when I finished.”
After doing some research, Jenni believes that Gabrielle’s time was the fastest ever run by an eight-year-old - beating a world record set in Holland by 12 seconds.
The fastest time recorded in the Stewart Park run from all ages or genders is 16.01.
Even seasoned adult runners struggle to hit the 20 minute mark.
Jenni continued: “Unfortunately, because the park run is not classed as an official road race she has not officially got the record, but I have spoken to the Association of Road Runners Statisticians and we are looking into going over to Holland to see if she can officially claim the record there.”
The Ingleby Mill school pupil trains three times a week with the Swift Tees running club, local athletes Matty Hynes and Chris Tomlinson, and unofficial coach Phil Teece, who coaches at the Stockton Striders running club.
Due to her age, Gabrielle is not yet an official member of a running club - but loves to train with grandad John Hall, 56, come rain or shine.
The pair can regularly be seen out running together near John’s home in Marton, and he believes that his grandaughter has been blessed with a “special talent”.
He said: “She is just a normal eight-year-old, until she is running and she becomes almost like an adult in her desire, focus and dedication.
“She just loves to run. Sometimes if it’s cold we’ll ask her if she wants to train that night, and she looks at us as if we’re silly.
“No matter what, she wants to be out there.”
John, who owns a meat wholesale company in Middlesbrough, only took up running to provide Gabrielle with a training partner.
“I had never enjoyed running, but I threw myself into it to keep up with Gabrielle because she needed someone to run with her,” he continued.
“She was faster than me, but I broke her personal best and she was furious, really competitive, until she bettered it and now she’s happy again.”
Away from running, Gabrielle - who has an older sister, Grace, 11, and younger brothers Oliver, 6, and Max, 1 - is just a normal girl who loves piano, chocolate and her pet hamster Toffee - who was bought as a treat after breaking the record.
The family is now targeting other park runs, with a view for Gabrielle to break age grade records at different venues.
Gabrielle continued: “I just want to keep on running. My dream is to be an Olympic runner.”
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