A young lad has become the fastest seven-year-old to complete a 5km run in a staggering world record.
Speedy Hugo Roth smashed out an incredible time of 20 mins, 59 seconds.
The previous record of 21 minutes and four seconds was held by young athlete Roux Tucker.
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Hugo’s mum Tineke said the schoolboy, who idolises triathlete siblings the Brownlee Brothers, “shot off like a rocket”.
But when the results came through they “couldn’t believe it”.
“I called my husband Mark who was in the car with Hugo and told him he had just broken a world record,” Tineke, 46, told What’s The Jam.
“He was speechless and flabbergasted.
“He was obviously breathing heavily when he crossed the line because he’d pushed himself, but we scooped him up and took him straight for an hour of gymnastics.
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“He has an extraordinary amount of energy.”
Tineke, an accountant at a law firm, said Hugo got into running when she started doing Parkruns to rebuild her fitness in January 2024.
She said: “I used to run at a county level so I knew instantly that Hugo was talented.
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“He just absolutely loves it. He’s happiest when he’s running.”
Hugo lives in Rawdon, Leeds, with mum Tineke, dad Mark, 48, who works in horticulture, and 11-year-old big brother Henry.
He joined Abbey Juniors (AJs), a local running group for children and teenagers, last year (2024) and quickly built up his speed.
He smashed the world record on Saturday (10 May) at Roberts Park in Saltaire, near Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Tineke said: “He’s a really dedicated little boy but we didn’t want to put too much pressure on him.
“Two months ago he got a time of 21 minutes and 33 seconds and afterwards he said ‘I think I can get under 21 minutes, mum’.
“We knew that would mean beating the world record but we didn’t tell him that as we wanted him to just do his best and enjoy it.
“He’s running again with his schoolteacher this weekend to beat his own record and I’m quite confident he can do it.
“Children have to be accompanied by a guardian at Parkrun so we had to find someone who could keep up with him!
“He shot off like a rocket.
“He adores the Brownlee Brothers and trains at the Brownlee Track in Adel.
“He could really go somewhere with this.”
Hugo, who also loves rugby, was born in June 2017 so he only has a couple more weekends to break the record again for his age bracket.
According to Parkrun rankings, which are only shown for adults, he is in the top 7.6% for all adults in the country – at just seven years old.
When asked why he loves running, Hugo said: “Because it’s fun and I get to play with my friends.”
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