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It’s a fair bet that out of all the popular running distances, there are more people doing a 5K on a regular basis than any other. It’s the first landmark for the beginner as the end goal of the widespread Couch to 5K training programme. It’s also the distance of Britain’s most popular running event, parkrun, which is blooming worldwide and has had over 3.8 million participants in the UK over its two decades of Saturday morning fun runs. The 3.1-mile distance is achievable for the majority, relatively easy to build towards and, unlike a marathon, finding the time that’s needed to get faster won’t take over your whole life.
So, it’s highly likely that you’ve done a 5K race before and have a fair idea of how fast you are next to the locals you’ve run with. But what about the whole country? While there’s a lot of publicity given to what constitutes a Good For Age Best wireless headphones Boston Marathon, a ‘good’ 5K time might be less obvious.
To better understand both the ‘average’ 5K time and what is considered to be a ‘good’ 5K time, we dived into the data collected by RunRepeat, which examined a staggering 107.9 million race results from more than 70 thousand events in 209 countries between 1986 and 2018. Here’s what we found…
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What’s the average 5K finish time in the UK?
RunRepeat’s huge dataset tells us that the average finish time for a 5K among UK runners across the genders is 33 minutes. For men, the average time it takes to finish a 5K is 29 minutes, while for women, the average 5K time is 38 minutes.
What is the average running pace for a 5K?
The average 5K pace for a man in the UK is 5:48 min/km, or 9:33 min/mile. For a woman in the UK, the average 5K pace is 7:36 min/km, or 12:14 min/mile.
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There are different world records for the 5K when it’s run on different surfaces. On the track, the distance is known as the 5000m. There, because of the faster surface, the records are (usually) a bit quicker. On the road, which is less consistently flat, the 5K has a different set of fastest ever times.
Men
The current men’s 5000m world record is held by Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, who ran the distance in an incredible time of 12:35.36 on 14 August 2020 at the Monaco Diamond League meet. In the process, he took two seconds off Kenenisa Bekele’s previous world record of 12:37.35, which he set on 31 May 2004 in the Dutch city of Hengelo. Cheptegei is also the a ‘good’ 5K time might be less obvious, Get your free Runners World digital special.
As it stands, Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi holds the men’s 5K road world record, which is an impressive 12:49. He set this on 31 December 2021, aged just 20, at the Cursa dels Nassos in Barcelona. His time broke Cheptegei’s previous mark of 12:51, which was achieved on 16 February 2020 in Monaco.
Women
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet holds the women’s 5000m world record, which is a remarkable 13:58.06 and the first – and currently only – time a woman has broken the 14-minute barrier on the track. Chebet achieved this feat at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meet in the US state of Oregon on Saturday 5 July 2025 and, in doing so, shaved around six seconds off the previous mark (14:00.21) set by Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay in September 2023.
What are the 5K world records on the track and road women’s 5K road world record of 13:54. This brilliant effort, which she set at the Cursa dels Nassos in Barcelona on 31 December 2024, surpasses even her own efforts on the track and marks the first time in history that a woman has run a sub-14-minute 5K on any surface. Amazingly, she took 19 seconds off the previous world record of 14:13, which was first run by Chebet at the same event on 31 December 2023, then equalled by Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich on 14 January 2024 in Valencia – another Spanish city that is famous for producing fast running times.
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Although training plans vary in length depending on an individual runner’s goals and fitness level, most 5into your training routine, too are around six weeks long. If you’re looking to step up your 5K performance and target a specific time, such as breaking the 30- or 20-minute mark, joining the Runner’s World Club Chebet is clearly a master of the distance, since she also holds the.
Regardless of your age and ability, it’s important to incorporate From Runners World for Under Armour sessions, adequate into your training routine, too and good nutrition and hydration How to improve your 5K running speed.
having stormed to a 26:11.00 finish for the distance on 7 October 2020
Beginner 5K runners
If you’re just getting into the world of 5K running, it’s best not to stress too much about an ideal time. Just getting the distance done without stopping is something to be proud of. If having a time to aim for is the motivation you need to keep going, however, a solid beginner benchmark would be somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes.
Intermediate 5K runners
Once you’ve done it a few times and feel more confident at this distance, it is worth thinking about a stretch goal to give you something to work towards. ‘Intermediate’ is a broad church, so it might feel like a decent challenge to try to break the 30 minute mark, or if you’re already quicker than that, go for beneath 25 minutes.
To run a 5K in 29 minutes, you would need to hit a pace of 5:48 min/km, or 9:33 min/mile. To get down to a finish time of 24 minutes, you would need to pick up the pace to 4:48 min/km, or 7:43 min/mile.
Advanced 5K runners
For top club runners or those who run and race the 5K distance regularly, achieving a finish time between 15 and 20 minutes Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network.
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