To think ParkRun need to consider banning racers?

At my parkrun we need to do laps, so the fastest do have to come around while the slowest are still in the way.
There's also usually children's football going on and dog walkers too.

I'm not aware of much bad behaviour at all.

The running club people are generally friendly and encouraging.

I think the key issue is that really good runners use parkrun for a sociable warm up or cool down. They're not the ones shoving and shouting. That's just some knob heads.

I don't see the point in Park Run records as they allow men to run as women, so I've got no chance of ever achieving a record because I'm female.

When I first heard about it, I thought it was a great idea until I found out they do timings

If people want to track their own time, great

But it makes a mockery of it being for fun and relaxation if they're keeping track and it puts people in competitive mode

I thought it might be a good way to keep up with running just once a week as I don't do it generally but it doesn't sound like a fun run anyway to me

You get idiots wherever you go. It's not just men, and it's not just fast runners.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with someone pushing themselves to their absolute best if that's what they want to get out of parkrun, just like there's nothing wrong with a social chatty run/walk if that's what you're looking to get out of it. There is, if course, something wrong with shoving people and swearing at them.

The issues you describe are clearly on a multi-lap course. I see it both ways though. Sometimes front runners can barge their way through with little consideration for other people. Other times, it's slower runners bunching up and not allowing front runners a smooth easy overtake.

I'm a middle of the pack runner who is not afraid to bellow "keep left" when people in front of me are trotting along 3 or 4 abreast when faster runners are clearly trying to safety make their way past us all. Equally I would have no qualms pointing out if I felt a faster runner was trying to bully their way through.

If everyone showed a little more consideration for other people, the world would be a happier place. That's definitely not just a parkrun issue. Welcome to life in 2026, where so many people sadly seem to think the world revolves around them.

Yes, we have that too. Cricket in the summer. Open air fitness classes at various times all year round. Every school holiday there are playschemes for children. Various organised events at other times that take over much of the park. Giving the local community a place to exercise is one of the key functions of a park.

Pushing, swearing, shouting is definitely not acceptable.

We are always reminded at parkrun that we don't have exclusive rights to the path, always be considerate to other users.

Parkrun is not the place for extreme competitiveness.

Should we ban football as well then? Both our local parks have football pitches and you can't get near them when the teams are playing. Cars parked all over the place, loads of people round the pitch.

They're between a rock and a hard place with that, though. When you sign up for parkrun, you can give any name you want and it's entirely up to the individual whether to sign up as F or M. There are no ID checks at parkrun.

Exactly.

TBF Plenty of women are competitive, my DD has done 18min PR's, with some in her club sub 17.... believe me, this really pisses off the blokes with small willy's
No one can condone pushing shouting etc, but neither she nor i have seen that in dozens of runs we've done.

The thing that is an issue is other park users, seemingly blocking the course out of spite, usually with a dog on an extendable lead!

No I don't want big groups of people preventing everyone else using and enjoying the park.

it can depending how it’s managed. If people feel it’s preventing them use it, it’s probably closer to two hours disruption a week (half hour each side, parking etc) which if you add up over the year could be a reasonable amount of time local people are unable to use the asset they pay for.

There’s a good chance if enough complain the council will pull the plug because they don’t want the grief. So it’s in park runs interest to manage the twats

The rudeness you described is unacceptable, but like I said, it's not your place to decide how or where other people run.

Is there a reason for your strong feelings on this, perhaps they make you feel embarrassed or slow? If so that's your issue, not theirs.

It isn't really just an hour though is it. People arrive before the run, hang around after the run blocking paths.

Absolutely it was too small but from what I'm reading the selfish aggressive behaviour is not unusual.

Because it’s not the women and kids pushing and swearing at people?

They have not hired exclusive use of the park they have been allowed to use the park.

Yet another man bashing opportunity. All the women and kids I know that do ParkRun are always striving for a PB.

It sounds as if your park was too small, which would be why it doesn't happen there any more. It would be ridiculous to ban parkrun from all parks. Ours is easily big enough to accommodate several hundred parkrunners and a great many other park users all at the same time.

The council have to tread a careful balance allowing events like this.
if they take over the park and it prevents all locals enjoying it, it can be seen as deprivation of a local asset, the more non locals that attend and the more pushed out locals become, the more that argument holds water.

I’m curious, what were other people doing when all these men were causing chaos? Did nobody challenge them on it? Presumably the organisers stepped in and spoke to them?

Well we aren't anymore as they can't do it in our park anymore. When it was allowed why should we effectively be excluded from the park because of the bad behaviour of runners?

People can’t have opinions?