Quote Originally Posted by BreathlessTao View Post
As far as I know, speedrun is a players-created concept
Actually, it's something SE created back in version 1. You could only get Darklight gear (the best non-crafted+melded gear at the time) by clearing Aurum Vale or Cutter's Cry in under 16 minutes (I think it was 16, though I'm open to being corrected).

You also got seperate lodestone achievements for killing Ifrit, Moogle or Garuda in certain time frames.