Page 30 | 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.

JustTryingToBeMe · 26/04/2026 13:22

Sirzy · 26/04/2026 12:06

As much as I don’t agree with it the way people register for parkrun does make it impossible for it to be policed.

I don’t know what the answer is but it would be very hard to stop someone registering as male
or female if they wished to.

Digital ID with biological sex as a recorded field would be one answer.

Marieb19 · 26/04/2026 13:22

Park Runs stance on this is completely disingenuous. They can't maintain that it's not competitive or a competition uf they publish rankings and timings. So it is competitive and to maintain fairness for women, only women's times should ne published. They can still be open to trans runners by classifying the male category as "open". The reason Park Run don't do this, is because their leadership are dyed in the wool Stonewall idealogues, who want to affirm men's fetishes and don't care about women or their sport.

ComtesseDeSpair · 26/04/2026 13:16

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 13:11

They really can’t.

If they are asking for sex for data purposes with regard to sport and publishing results using the categories’Female' and ‘male' they need to make the rules that it is sex they require not Gender ID.

No policing is needed. Trans people are just as law abiding as everyone else. They will do he ight thing if parkrun ask them

Show quote history

Sure, they can require that and rely on people to be honest. But there still won’t be anything to actually prevent transwomen who genuinely believe they are female from continuing from registering as female, just as there’s nothing to prevent a 40-year-old registering as as a 60-year-old and being recorded as the fastest runner in their age band.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 13:14

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 26/04/2026 12:50

This - it's a non competitive run in the park to go for a bit of exercise. You can even jog round/walk round if you like.
Do people even know what Park Run is?! There are no trophies or prizes. 😕

Show quote history

Good job everyone treats it differently and is for EVERYONE no matter how they chose to run it.

OP posts:

Original poster

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 13:11

ComtesseDeSpair · 26/04/2026 13:05

Park runs are non-competitive events staffed by volunteers. They can publish whatever guidelines they like about registering truthfully with your sex and age, but they can’t monitor compliance with them. You just have to treat Park runs as competing against yourself and bettering your own time.

They really can’t.

If they are asking for sex for data purposes with regard to sport and publishing results using the categories’Female' and ‘male' they need to make the rules that it is sex they require not Gender ID.

No policing is needed. Trans people are just as law abiding as everyone else. They will do he ight thing if parkrun ask them

OP posts:

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 26/04/2026 13:11

ComtesseDeSpair · 26/04/2026 13:05

Park runs are non-competitive events staffed by volunteers. They can publish whatever guidelines they like about registering truthfully with your sex and age, but they can’t monitor compliance with them. You just have to treat Park runs as competing against yourself and bettering your own time.

Exactly, if you're after a competitive race you'd be better off joining a marathon, a competition or whatever instead of expecting everyone else to treat it as a competition as well.
When I've done it in the past I look my time up and try and beat my personal best each time. Not try and turn it into a race with the others running.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 13:08

shuggles · 26/04/2026 12:48

I don't think I would lose any sleep over not being told by e-mail that I'm the fastest runner in my age category (if that was factually correct). I'm not 8 years old.

Show quote history

Belittling other people is not kind or inclusive to other people’s motivation.

OP posts:

ComtesseDeSpair · 26/04/2026 13:05

Park runs are non-competitive events staffed by volunteers. They can publish whatever guidelines they like about registering truthfully with your sex and age, but they can’t monitor compliance with them. You just have to treat Park runs as competing against yourself and bettering your own time.

Spaghettea · 26/04/2026 13:04

Parkrun senior leadership and the trustees are an unpleasant bunch. Yes, I run and volunteer all the time.

They've known about Jeska for years and won't even change his category over to the men's.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 13:04

ZenNudist · 26/04/2026 12:40

There's no way they can stop a man from registering as a woman.

They could make people go back and re-register as their biological sex but they cant force compliance. I'd prefer it to be accurate. However, say I'm the 7th woman in my age category I'd become the 6th. It doesn't make a lot of difference to me.

Thing is it would cause lots of bad feeling amongst the mainly younger and "inclusive" crowd of park runners. It's just not worth it for slightly more accuracy.

The accolade of being the fastest female park runner is going to have the shine taken off it if you're actually male bodied. Most people will think it even if they don't say it. I feel badly for the women who have the accolade taken off them.

But they have

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:

AndSoFinally · 26/04/2026 12:58

SlipperyLizard · 26/04/2026 12:12

One female parkrun record is held by a man called Lauren Jeska, who is currently serving 18 years for the attempted murder of a UK athletics official who was questioning his right to compete in the female category.

Parkrun have completely lost the plot on this one.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-39266777

In fairness, this might be why they allow it. If this was the risk I’m pretty sure the volunteer pool would dwindle pretty rapidly and the whole thing would shut down

redskyAtNigh · 26/04/2026 12:57

shuggles · 26/04/2026 12:48

I don't think I would lose any sleep over not being told by e-mail that I'm the fastest runner in my age category (if that was factually correct). I'm not 8 years old.

Show quote history

But some people do care about positions.
Otherwise park run would just publish times and nothing else.
Or they wouldn't even do that and just let people record their own time.

Original poster

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 12:56

ToadRage · 26/04/2026 12:38

It's many years since i did parkrun but I wasn't aware they post records and winners, we got sent our time over text but no-one showed off about it. I also wasn't aware there were catgories, everyone ran together.

Everyone runs together but they do post run times, here’s an example, (I’ve cut through the names but you get the idea).

Not everyone cares but some people do get motivated to see where they sit within their category. It’s not showing off but for some people they care. So the categories should be accurate for women. Men get to see where they sit because men are around 10-12% faster than women at elite level (and there is more of a gap at grass routes) so trans men in their categroy do not skew the results. Quite the point actually

I’m sure today’s London Marathon winner Sebastian Sawe won’t be accused of showing off with his sub 2 hour marathon time. Well done him!

OP posts:

AndSoFinally · 26/04/2026 12:55

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 12:01

I don’t understand, genuinely I don’t.

It’s so blatantly wrong but people defend this in the name of inclusivity.
How would it affect trans identfying men to register by sex. They know their sex, they just pop in on their registration as they would if they filled out a form in hospital and then get on with their day and run identifying how they feel comfortable. That’s inclusive for all, surely.

Yeah, they don’t do this either. Causes all sorts of problems in A&E 🤦🏻

WheretheFishesareFrightening · 26/04/2026 12:55

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 12:13

It doesn’t need to be policed, trans people wouldn’t be any more likely break the rules than anyone else, would they?

What do you propose the gender/sex question is though? Given trans people believe they are women and female, they won’t think they’re cheating by answering the question that way.

YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan · 26/04/2026 12:53

Some people treat it as a fun run. Some people take it seriously and want to keep improving their stats.

It takes the ambition and determination away for women.

If only biological women are running, there's a goal there to push yourself to be to be one the fastest women in your age band.

Due to biology, biological men tend to be faster runners than women, hence we have sex based categories.

As they allow biological men to run as women, it takes away the goal for women to achieve a leader board place as they're less likely to achieve a fastest spot due to men taking their accolades.

BillieWiper · 26/04/2026 12:52

araiwa · 26/04/2026 12:03

Make them return all the prize money and trophies

I don't think there are any trophies or prizes as it's not a race.

Wearenotborg · 26/04/2026 12:51

ZenNudist · 26/04/2026 12:40

There's no way they can stop a man from registering as a woman.

They could make people go back and re-register as their biological sex but they cant force compliance. I'd prefer it to be accurate. However, say I'm the 7th woman in my age category I'd become the 6th. It doesn't make a lot of difference to me.

Thing is it would cause lots of bad feeling amongst the mainly younger and "inclusive" crowd of park runners. It's just not worth it for slightly more accuracy.

The accolade of being the fastest female park runner is going to have the shine taken off it if you're actually male bodied. Most people will think it even if they don't say it. I feel badly for the women who have the accolade taken off them.

Why would that accolade lose its shine? I mean, you’d know everyone would think you were a cheating knobhead, but surely you’d have known that when you set out to cheat, so you’d be ok with that. What if you were second to some cheating man when really you should have been first? What is the point of holding female records if they’re held by cheating men? .

IAmBeaIDrinkTea · 26/04/2026 12:50

shuggles · 26/04/2026 12:35

What's the prize money for winning a park run?

Show quote history

This - it's a non competitive run in the park to go for a bit of exercise. You can even jog round/walk round if you like.
Do people even know what Park Run is?! There are no trophies or prizes. 😕

SlipperyLizard · 26/04/2026 12:49

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 12:25

Is this a published record holder in the female category of parkrun?

Show quote history

Yes - scroll down here
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/aberystwyth/news/2023/04/

shuggles · 26/04/2026 12:48

ZenNudist · 26/04/2026 12:43

There's no prize. Its just for fun. The only impact is that someone will be told on their email that they are the fastest woman or fastest woman in their age category so by adding men to this mix then it is taking the credit away from a woman.

Show quote history

I don't think I would lose any sleep over not being told by e-mail that I'm the fastest runner in my age category (if that was factually correct). I'm not 8 years old.

ChateauMargaux · 26/04/2026 12:47

No need to police it.. it should be on a trust basis..

When it became clear that people were self identifying into the female category ParkRun choose to allow this and to restate their rules and remove some of the reporting which separated men and women.

They choose to prioritise a very small number of men who identity as women over women and everytime they are challenged on this, they defend this position.

There are plenty of females on the senior leadership team and the board of trustees.

ZenNudist · 26/04/2026 12:47

Record holder

ZenNudist · 26/04/2026 12:43

shuggles · 26/04/2026 12:35

What's the prize money for winning a park run?

Show quote history

There's no prize. Its just for fun. The only impact is that someone will be told on their email that they are the fastest woman or fastest woman in their age category so by adding men to this mix then it is taking the credit away from a woman.

PrettyDamnCosmic · 26/04/2026 12:42

Funtime2 · 26/04/2026 12:25

Is this a published record holder in the female category of parkrun?

Show quote history

Yes. It's Aberystwyth as I recall.