Page 12 | parkrun defending their position

Funtime2 · 2026-04-26T10:52:31+00:00

I used to be a parkrunner and do not understand how parkrun can defend their position of allowing trans identfying males into the female category. I read that 280 published race winners in the female category are actually men identifying as women. How is this fair to women? Some women don’t care about this but some women do, just as some men take it as a race and care about the rankings and some men don’t The other option of course is they could stop the timing, stop recording winners and records? AIBU to genuinely not understand why parkrun claim not to be a race when they time the runners, publish times by category, rank times and runners, and have record holders by category.

TheKeatingFive · 28/04/2026 13:33

Mangelwurzelfortea · 28/04/2026 13:32

What difference would it make though? You can tick the box saying you're anything - nobody actually checks. I could say I was a man if I wanted. It's not a serious competition, most people just do it for PBs and to help with training for other stuff, or just to keep fit with mates. My son (a biological male!) comes top 5 most times he runs and he doesn't care about anything apart from PBs.

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Is it really too much to ask that people respond honestly to basic questions?

If people routinely lied about their age for age categories, would you just wave that away too?

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 13:32

Mangelwurzelfortea · 28/04/2026 13:28

Park Run is staffed by volunteers - just people from local charities and running groups, I have done it before - and it would not be fair to expect them to police people's sex/gender identity as they come over the final line. We have an average of 600 runners a week at my local one and of course it has to be self-ID because how would you realistically police it?

Don't come after Park Run! It's just fun and politics-free.

parkrun Age categories = state your age.
parkrun sex categories = state how you feel.

parkrun age categories = fair competition and data collecting
parkrun sex categories = unfairness to women and inaccurate data collecting

Not consistent is it?

No one is asking for al the categories to be policed.
They are asking for them to be fair and consistent.

OP posts:

Mangelwurzelfortea · 28/04/2026 13:32

TheKeatingFive · 28/04/2026 13:29

No one's even asking for them to police anything. Just to have categories based on actual sex.

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What difference would it make though? You can tick the box saying you're anything - nobody actually checks. I could say I was a man if I wanted. It's not a serious competition, most people just do it for PBs and to help with training for other stuff, or just to keep fit with mates. My son (a biological male!) comes top 5 most times he runs and he doesn't care about anything apart from PBs.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 13:30

Mangelwurzelfortea · 28/04/2026 13:28

Park Run is staffed by volunteers - just people from local charities and running groups, I have done it before - and it would not be fair to expect them to police people's sex/gender identity as they come over the final line. We have an average of 600 runners a week at my local one and of course it has to be self-ID because how would you realistically police it?

Don't come after Park Run! It's just fun and politics-free.

No need to police anything, just as they don’t police age categories. But they don’t state that age categories are however you feel do they?

They just need to make it clear the catgories they chose to use for data purposes are accurate.

OP posts:

TheKeatingFive · 28/04/2026 13:29

Mangelwurzelfortea · 28/04/2026 13:28

Park Run is staffed by volunteers - just people from local charities and running groups, I have done it before - and it would not be fair to expect them to police people's sex/gender identity as they come over the final line. We have an average of 600 runners a week at my local one and of course it has to be self-ID because how would you realistically police it?

Don't come after Park Run! It's just fun and politics-free.

No one's even asking for them to police anything. Just to have categories based on actual sex.

TheKeatingFive · 28/04/2026 13:28

blankcanvas3 · 28/04/2026 13:21

Park run is really not that serious. I run alongside my trans friend every week, and every week I beat her despite the fact I’m biologically female and she’s not. Life’s too short to care about this

If it's not all that serious why record times and give our 'best female'? Why have 'best female' include men?

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 13:28

blankcanvas3 · 28/04/2026 13:21

Park run is really not that serious. I run alongside my trans friend every week, and every week I beat her despite the fact I’m biologically female and she’s not. Life’s too short to care about this

For you maybe. You understand that many other women would like the same rights that men have? Fair competition

How about the 280 winners in the female category that are male?

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Mangelwurzelfortea · 28/04/2026 13:28

Park Run is staffed by volunteers - just people from local charities and running groups, I have done it before - and it would not be fair to expect them to police people's sex/gender identity as they come over the final line. We have an average of 600 runners a week at my local one and of course it has to be self-ID because how would you realistically police it?

Don't come after Park Run! It's just fun and politics-free.

blankcanvas3 · 28/04/2026 13:21

Park run is really not that serious. I run alongside my trans friend every week, and every week I beat her despite the fact I’m biologically female and she’s not. Life’s too short to care about this

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 13:18

TheKeatingFive · 28/04/2026 13:10

They'll probably stop the placements and timings for a while and then try to bring them in via the backdoor - as they have done in the past.

Anything, ANYTHING rather than having to say no to entitled men who want women's stuff.

That’s actually the bit I don’t understand.

Surely all they need is a tick box for biological sex. That is it!

Everyone welcome, run as you want, slow fast, what ever identity, dog or no dog.

If they want to collect data it has to be accurate or don’t do it.

OP posts:

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 13:11

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:38

It's only a competition if you go online, look and cry at everybody else's score, and try and turn it into one by looking and comparing yourself to Runny McRunnerson.
In real life, whilst you're there, everybody but the wannabe marathon runners barging everybody out of the way (which was said upthread they'd found bargers) are just enjoying the run, the exercise and looking to see how they did compared to last week and hoping to improve the next.

So what are the rankings for then?

Please could you answer this?

Why do they collect the data on male and female runners when their criteria is inaccurate?

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TheKeatingFive · 28/04/2026 13:10

They'll probably stop the placements and timings for a while and then try to bring them in via the backdoor - as they have done in the past.

Anything, ANYTHING rather than having to say no to entitled men who want women's stuff.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 13:08

Catiette · 28/04/2026 13:06

Honestly, it's just so revealing that we continually get this instead of mature engagement with the issue at hand.

In the face of considered arguments that we just want full parity for females, and solutions to this... we get accusations of hate, crying and some kind of political agenda (and some ripe insults).

In the face of long-term tabulated rankings, "firsts" and "records"... we get the persistent denial that it's in any way competitive "coz that's what they say and therez no meddles".

This determined avoidance of the issue at hand (that transwomen want one thing, while a significant proportion of women want another, so how do we weigh this up and decide, and how do we justify that decision etc.) is precisely what reveals that Houston, we really do have a problem here.

I wish these posters would just acknowledge that people want different things: transwomen conflict with women, and both fun runners and competitive runners exist, and all deserve open discussion of this.

To just repeatedly say the problem doesn't exist OR you're ridiculous / pathetic / bigotted for thinking it does etc....

...is to expose exactly the kind of narrow-mindedness - of bloody-mindedness! - that these posters see in us.

It's worrying.

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Well said.

OP posts:

TheKeatingFive · 28/04/2026 13:08

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:58

Change or close are the options
Do it our way or close down!
If that was coming from the "other side" there'd be collective outrage.

Don't be silly.

Publish records by sex, as per the law.

What's so difficult about that? Why don't you think women deserve to have their category maintained fairly?

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 13:06

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:58

Change or close are the options
Do it our way or close down!
If that was coming from the "other side" there'd be collective outrage.

It’s a legal point as opposed to being a side

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Catiette · 28/04/2026 13:06

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 12:50

Why do you think people would cry?

How odd.

You really don’t get it at all.

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Honestly, it's just so revealing that we continually get this instead of mature engagement with the issue at hand.

In the face of considered arguments that we just want full parity for females, and solutions to this... we get accusations of hate, crying and some kind of political agenda (and some ripe insults).

In the face of long-term tabulated rankings, "firsts" and "records"... we get the persistent denial that it's in any way competitive "coz that's what they say and therez no meddles".

This determined avoidance of the issue at hand (that transwomen want one thing, while a significant proportion of women want another, so how do we weigh this up and decide, and how do we justify that decision etc.) is precisely what reveals that Houston, we really do have a problem here.

I wish these posters would just acknowledge that people want different things: transwomen conflict with women, and both fun runners and competitive runners exist, and all deserve open discussion of this.

To just repeatedly say the problem doesn't exist OR you're ridiculous / pathetic / bigotted for thinking it does etc....

...is to expose exactly the kind of narrow-mindedness - of bloody-mindedness! - that these posters see in us.

It's worrying.

BananaPeels · 28/04/2026 13:00

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:58

Change or close are the options
Do it our way or close down!
If that was coming from the "other side" there'd be collective outrage.

No just asking for an extra category of sex. You can keep gender if you want. It’s a tiny admin change that will add less than a second of people filling in the form. What’s the problem?

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:58

Change or close are the options
Do it our way or close down!
If that was coming from the "other side" there'd be collective outrage.

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:57

Why do you think people would cry?
It's a figure of speech.
You haven't heard of it?
How odd.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 12:56

Bunnyofhope · 28/04/2026 12:50

It's got to change and it will change. People will be told to register by sex. These groups always have a good old moan when outed as illegal and woman hating but they always change in the end. I'm looking at you girl guides and the WI. Likewise the Hampstead ponds will change. Change or close are the options.

I think they’ll scrap times and tables personally, although the best thing for parkrun would be to re-instate the ability to filter the stats by sex. As long as their definition of sex complies.

OP posts:

Bunnyofhope · 28/04/2026 12:50

It's got to change and it will change. People will be told to register by sex. These groups always have a good old moan when outed as illegal and woman hating but they always change in the end. I'm looking at you girl guides and the WI. Likewise the Hampstead ponds will change. Change or close are the options.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 28/04/2026 12:50

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:38

It's only a competition if you go online, look and cry at everybody else's score, and try and turn it into one by looking and comparing yourself to Runny McRunnerson.
In real life, whilst you're there, everybody but the wannabe marathon runners barging everybody out of the way (which was said upthread they'd found bargers) are just enjoying the run, the exercise and looking to see how they did compared to last week and hoping to improve the next.

Why do you think people would cry?

How odd.

You really don’t get it at all.

OP posts:

BananaPeels · 28/04/2026 12:46

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:38

It's only a competition if you go online, look and cry at everybody else's score, and try and turn it into one by looking and comparing yourself to Runny McRunnerson.
In real life, whilst you're there, everybody but the wannabe marathon runners barging everybody out of the way (which was said upthread they'd found bargers) are just enjoying the run, the exercise and looking to see how they did compared to last week and hoping to improve the next.

exactly so no issue with people being the correct sex and age categories then. For the people who are competitive it matters, for everyone else I don’t think it is even worth them giving age and sex as all that matters is your time against yourself

Spaghettea · 28/04/2026 12:45

Parkrun CEO on radio 4 you and yours now talking about 'parity of genders' taking part.
Pity gender is crap data.

She also referred to age. I do actually know some people who lied on registering their child to make them over 11 so they could run alone.

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 28/04/2026 12:38

It's only a competition if you go online, look and cry at everybody else's score, and try and turn it into one by looking and comparing yourself to Runny McRunnerson.
In real life, whilst you're there, everybody but the wannabe marathon runners barging everybody out of the way (which was said upthread they'd found bargers) are just enjoying the run, the exercise and looking to see how they did compared to last week and hoping to improve the next.