Aidan Puffer of Manchester Sets World Age Group 5k World Record

Sep 22, 2017

This past Sunday, 13- year old Aidan Puffer of Manchester CT ran the CVS Health Downtown 5k in Providence, RI in 16:11 setting a new 13- year old 5k world record. Puffer, an 8th grader at Saint Bridget school in Manchester, also holds the 12- year old 5k road race world record and the 11- year old 5000m track world record.

The previous record was 16:29 set by Nathan Young in Street, England in 2005.

His time was good enough for 37^th place in the race, which is also the USATF New England 5k Championship. Brown graduate Jordan Mann won the race in 14:33.4.

"Going into the race I was confident that I would break the world record" Puffer stated. "The week before, I won the New York Road Runner 5th Avenue mile for my age group in a time of 4:44 and I was feeling that I was in great shape.

The 13-year old didn't go into the race with a specific strategy. "I just ran and tried to be on pace. At the first mile marker, I ran a 4:49, which was way too fast, so I slowed down a little bit to try and pace myself, but my first half was way faster than the second half. I didn't mean to go out fast, but I was anxious to be on pace."

Puffer's future goals are to run a sub 16 minute 5k and break his own record at the BAA 5k in April before he turns 14 years old. He would also like to break the USATF indoor 3000m (9:22) and possibly the 1500m (4:18) record in March.

The previous record was 16:29 set by Nathan Young in Street, England in 2005.

His time was good enough for 37^th place in the race, which is also the USATF New England 5k Championship. Brown graduate Jordan Mann won the race in 14:33.4.