To think ParkRun need to consider banning racers?

If they were genuinely pushing people, that's terrible. Swearing I wouldn't be bothered by unless it was directed at someone. However, i think its absolutely fine to go fast and swerve round people.

What I think you perhaps haven't considered here is that children trying out different sports and then really working hard at the ones they like need skilled, carefully vetted coaches with the right insurance in place in case anything goes wrong. There are some very dedicated amateurs out there who do coaching around their jobs and family responsibilities, but even they need to be working within a structure for their sport which means there have to be people in there who're getting paid because it's their job. Therefore sports teams and clubs need some funding, whether that comes from the participants or from the local council or a grant-awarding body.

None of this applies to parkrun. There is no coaching going on. It's been carefully designed so that every single aspect can be delivered by volunteers with minimal training.

You clearly don't like it. Fair enough. Nothing that anybody has said has changed your mind, even though it's no longer running in your local park, so it's no longer having any effect on your life.

Well, now your park has lost its parkrun I imagine the chance of getting a cafe and loos is a lot less than it was. You win some, you lose some.

Shame noone can encourage kids by waving fees for them for sports they want to enjoy.

Maybe they could put out buckets for donations.

My park has no cafe and no loos. Maybe if the park runners had paid we could have had loos but of course they didn't.

And what's worse, the men who can't beat the other men pretend to be women

High participation rates mean a lot of custom at park cafes too. Also plenty of people using the loos which helps make the case for keeping them open and regularly checked, thus benefiting all park users. In days of yore our park had no cafe and the loos were more often closed than open because of vandalism. Better for everybody if lots of people use the park.

It’s one on the three things that makes it a parkrun. Free, weekly and timed. I think lots of people would pay £1 but parkrun want to reduce barriers to participation as much as possible and keeping it ‘free for everyone forever’ is one of their mantras.

It does matter to people. People pay to park at lots of events and that money goes to the landowner and then they put money into the economy by going out for breakfast afterwards.

So it isn't 60 minutes.

The free thing seems important to lots of people. It seems odd to me when if you want to play football on a pitch you pay for it, if they have a fair in our local park they pay but adults can't make a small contribution for their run? Say you have 400 runners every week and they pay £1 that's £20k a year that could be used to improve facilities or subsidise kids who can't afford to play a sport they love. Would that £1 stop people and if it would does the run matter that much?

I think Parkrun is fantastic and I’m glad there’s somewhere that everyone from racers to strollers can go and take part for free. There are a couple of things that could be done to make the situation easier. Faster runners at the front, slower/walkers at the back obviously. Make it very clear which side is the passing side (this seems to vary and isn’t always clearly communicated by RDs). Where possible have a single loop course or maybe a maximum of 2 laps to reduce the number of times the fast runners are overtaking the slower ones, same for avoiding routes with very narrow tracks. I have taken part on a 3 lap narrow route and it’s not fun if you’re at the back! Personally I would not allow buggies to be pushed on those types of courses (same as dogs are not always allowed). More marshalls (and everyone has to volunteer after x number of Parkruns or no more times recorded).

Ultimately whatever the type of course, it’s down to all the users of that space to be considerate and tolerant of each other. Same as on our roads 🤔 - unfortunately some people act in a rude, entitled and dangerous way and need to be pulled up for it.

No, actually, I wasn't suggesting an organised event or, at least, not one like Park run with marshalls and badges and a website and a logo.

Kind of...
The parkrun i do most often, I frequently volunteer. Often im standing there at 8.50, thinking its not very well attended ...and it looks like maybe 50 people are there...in the next 10 minutes another 200 people usually turn up. Its not a particularly fast course, but the first person is usually 18 or 19 min and the last one just over an hour....but id say majority of people (that were running) are dispersing, or drifting towards the cafes by 9.45. The main paths are generally quite empty by then. It takes maybe until 10.15 to pack away the cones/finish etc, but our start/finish area is in the middle of a very large expanse of grass, unlikely to be impeding any other park users. The course set up is done before 9 but doesnt entail closing any paths so if anyone was dog walking, or exercising i doubt putting a few cones down would impact them.

I really don't understand slow runners that try to get in the front of the pack. It just means that for the next half an hour you're getting passed by 3 or 4 hundred people. It'll also use up your energy faster and you'll get a slower time at the end.

I imagine the really busy part of parkrun only lasts for about 45 min in most places. All the fastest runners (that lots of people seem to object to) will have been and gone within 25 min....

Lots of running clubs or coaches recommend parkruns for improving your 5k (and other) times so joining a running club isnt an alternative to parkrun. Most of my friends from running club do club sessions during the week, and parkrun most weekends.

Nobody should be pushing, shoving, barging, swearing, spitting or overtaking in a dangerous manner. That is the same in a race, on a running track...or anywhere really. But being "inclusive" surely include both ends of the scale. The people that take 17 minutes and the people that take over an hour. And everyone in between.

Do you think people materialise and sixty minutes later they disappear?

Its about 1 hour a week!

Unfortunately some parkruns are too popular for the routes used.

I agree that it was unacceptable for them to be pushing/shouting

For a while I have believed that parkrun needs a graded starting system. For example if you run sub 20 minutes you start at the front. sub 25 behind this flag, sub 30 behind the next flag etc

Whilst the idea is perhaps not 'in keeping with the spirit' of the event there are an inordinate number of runners who start too near the front relative to their abililty.

Well it isn't happening now so there is that. Yes we knew it was happening so does that mean a disabled man of almost 80 shouldn't be able to get exercise at a time he can manage to walk because people who are able to run are so rude and entitled? I guess park runners really are that entitled.

There are many of those around, so I suppose it's not out of the realms of possibility!

Doesn't ring any bells at any parkruns I've attended so maybe they are wondering if it's somewhat exaggerated People do parkrun for a variety of reasons, including besting their PB.

We had a woman like that in our park for a while. 9am on a Saturday moaning on the path and complaining loudly at the parkrunners.

I saw her being a dick in town too so she was clearly just one of those weird idiots.

yanbu - if they want to compete, they should book a race … they shouldn’t be shouting and swearing, there should be zero tolerance on that ..

Totally agree. I'm certainly not trying to ban them. It'd just be nice if some of them were more considerate, and the organisers moved people along a bit at the finish line so the whole - very wide - path isn't blocked.

I would always avoid and say thank you/sorry depending on how much avoidance I had to do! Or I would get sidetracked by the dog - which happens more frequently than I’d like to admit! I love parkrun, for myself and for the running community, it’s really important that it’s a cohesive environment and we are considerate to each other and locals! Rude people really piss me off.