To think the National Trust should not let Park Run volunteers marshal the cars at a NT property

I'm completely unsurprised that this is Clumber. I rarely walk there now as I feel less and less welcome. They've also stopped most parking on Limetree Avenue and if you want to walk on the side without the gardens that's where you need to be - the public car parks are so far from the edges that it takes forever to reach the far side walking. They have effectively blocked off a lot of the park to their less able visitors with this decision. The other concern also being that the car parks aren't open all the time so that prevents you going there too!

If you do write to NT and Patkrun please make sure you include the directors post. You can certainly see where the marshalls's attitude comes from.

If that is the set up on the bridle path it sounds incredibly dangerous. As in, horse bolting trampling people potential death type dangerous.

I support park runs and other organised outdoor events but, if this is the case, there really does need to a review of how these routes are agreed.

Yes it was! Thank you - I couldn't find anything about an organised run in London that evening (I must not have been googling the right terms), I was starting to think I'd hallucinated it!

Honestly who organises a charity race through central London at prime commuting time on a weekday evening.

😂😂😂😂 every bloody time!

When someone feels unhappy about something I find the best way for them to get satisfaction and closure is to speak directly with the people or organisation concerned.

absolutely no skin in this game whatsoever, given that I’ve never seen a park run or even know where clumber park is, but whoever though it would be a good idea to let you reply on behalf of the organisation must be holding their head and weeping right now.

I'm sure most park runners have the best of intentions. But obviously it can cause problems when 100s people descend on a smallish area that they aren't even paying to use, and then assume the area is for them only.

Stop replying and go for a run then

Wow, that's a terrible response @Manners23 .

If you want to avoid park run in the future, i'd recommend taking the hardwick village entrance and parking at 21.

I've just had a look at the course and I'm surprised they've chosen a route that's going to conflict with other users when they've got literally acres of space to play with. Anyone wanting to use the central bark car park or the field car park has to cross the route.

@TheGhostofLoganRoy was this Run the River? It’s the only one I could find that was in that general location at the time. Bloody stupid route for a weekday evening in Central London and I imagine would have annoyed a lot of people.

What an utterly ludicrous and offensive comparison.

Not nearly as ludicrous as your suggestion that walkers and the disabled taking part in Parkrun are being 'exploited' FFS.

Anyway I'm off for a run. Have an evening.

I've never encountered one that hasn't been detailed in local media / social media / by signage in the area beforehand.

The one that took place around Bankside Central London last week on a weekday evening had no signage, and I haven't been able to find a single word about it anywhere online. Maybe I'm not using the right search times but it certainly wasn't advertised, and no amount of advertising is going to make a race through very narrow passageways on a weekday evening, in the dark, with loads of commuters and tourists milling about, be physically unsafe. It was just very very poorly organised with no thought to safety and sheer arrogant entitlement.

You've never ever attended an event / festival / concert / market that pops up in an area it's not permanent in? Never spectated any kind of parade or sports event or air display? Never been to the Christmas lights switch on or a pop-up art event? No Firework displays or bonfires? Never been on holiday to somewhere that gets swamped by tourists?

None of those things involve running three abreast at top speed at elderly and frail people in a very narrow dark alleyway, or barging disabled people out of the way causing them to fall and become injured.

What an utterly ludicrous and offensive comparison.

these runs are often organised without thought to how other people will be affected

Every official run, particularly charity related ones, that I've ever had the slightest involvement in has been literally the opposite of this. There are myriad issues of obtaining insurances, public and participant liabilities, securing landowner / council permissions, and so on and so on. I've never encountered one that hasn't been detailed in local media / social media / by signage in the area beforehand.

An acquaintance organises an annual run in memory of a young person lost to suicide, and raising money for mental health charities. There are MONTHS of red tape, boxes to tick and hoops to jump through.

It is absolutely not a case of just turning up en-masse and running, and if it is then it's not an official or organised race.

So @TheGhostofLoganRoy You've never ever attended an event / festival / concert / market that pops up in an area it's not permanent in? Never spectated any kind of parade or sports event or air display? Never been to the Christmas lights switch on or a pop-up art event? No Firework displays or bonfires? Never been on holiday to somewhere that gets swamped by tourists? All of these things have an inconvenient impact on someone, somewhere, who would rather they didn't happen. Live and let life.

Yes, and at my local park run, a guy with a megaphone reiterates this in front of a big crowd of people blocking a public pathway who all get pissed off when you try and use the pathway while their important gathering is taking place.

The “run director” posting on here didn’t seem to demonstrate much consideration for other users - apparently it was well worth OP waiting in her car for a few minutes as parkrun is great…

Park run rules stress that park runners don't have sole use of the Park and have to show consideration for other users. This gets reiterated at the start of the race.

Do you not have any kinds of interests or hobbies, or attend any events that might impact slightly on people who aren't taking part?

No, of course not. I can't even imagine what that might involve.

I certainly wouldn't do activities that involve disabled and elderly people being frightened or injured.

I wasn't referring to the OP's situation, I was referring to my situation that I described upthread (which obviously is different, but I believe is similar enough that sharing is is not threadjacking).

I had to wait 15 mins in cold and rain (with nowhere to sit down, and I'm disabled) and missed my train because some absolute chumps had decided to organise a charity race (maybe training?) through extremely busy and narrow pedestrian streets, at 6-7pm on a weekday (so prime commuting time in that area), and some of the runners were being aggressive and hostile and were running so fast down extremely narrow passageways in darkness that it was physically dangerous for anyone who's wobbly on their feet to try to walk in the opposite direction.

There were a lot of upset commuters that day, and elderly people trying to get to the theatre in time for the play to start.

Obviously a run in a park is very different because there's space, but the point is these runs are often organised without thought to how other people will be affected. The organisers of the run I encountered should have had their run on a Sunday, in daylight hours, should have advertised it well in advance, and should have worked with the council to close off certain roads to avoid runners racing at top speed three abreast down extremely narrow passages or should have planned the route to only encompass wider paths. Or they should have had ushers enforcing walking through the very narrow passages and tunnels.

The organisers of the OP's park run should have made better arrangements for NT ticket buyers to be directed to a car park that didn't cross the run route, and to ensure this was well-signposted.

Oh dear @Manners23 . Parkrun not looking good right now.

And it was "a shame" that the OP's dog was trampled on? Is that the best you can muster?

Really? Two abreast means you have to allow a full car's width for them. Most lanes don't have that room and need passing places for other cars. So to allow them to use the lane for running two abreast, you have to slow down to runner speed until sucha space or they recognise that there is another road user. Thus a lower gear and more fuel and emissions. Goes for cyclists abreast too.

If you’ll read my post I do give them plenty of room but they’re often running two a-breast on a narrow country lane and it’s impossible to pass them safely so I don’t.

A little inconsiderate to do this at peak school-run time I’d say but there we are.

Please read section 206 of the Highway Code. Runners on ‘country lanes’ don’t have to make an effort to move over for cars, you need to make an effort to give them plenty of room.