parkrun defending their position

What faff? All they have to do is change the word gender to biological sex in their policy.

Which other categories do you consider a faff? Should we not bother with age categories?

in fact let’s do away with all of the categories right? Too much of a faff. After all it’s just a fun run.

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.

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.

Exactly the point I've been trying to make.

The faff would by far outweigh the benefits. There's a time and a place for ideology and Park Run isn't it.

I bet half the people polled that you're on about have never been to a Park Run in their life and/or don't have a bloody clue what it is.

I bet half the people polled that you're on about have never been to a Park Run in their life and/or don't have a bloody clue what it is.

Exactly the point I've been trying to make.

The faff would by far outweigh the benefits. There's a time and a place for ideology and Park Run isn't it.

Exactly the point I've been trying to make.

The faff would by far outweigh the benefits. There's a time and a place for ideology and Park Run isn't it.

What do you think of the poll on this thread?
In numbers terms over 1000 people think that the categories should be sex based.

It’s an overwhelming majority, nearly 90%.

Genuine question, has this surprised you? Or do you think that women on this site are not representative of society, and if so why?

But we do have lots of measures to police people when it comes to speeding. Preventive (speed bumps, visible traffic police presence) and detective (speed cameras).

But when it comes to Park Run registration any way to police this would be a massive faff to the vast majority of people for no major benefit.

So then they don’t police it in which case what’s the point. I do think Park Run could budge. They could remove inclusive wording safe in the knowledge that it would merely be symbolic and serve no actual purpose in real life.

That’s interesting.

Thank you for responding.

How about 11-15 year old football at grass roots? Should trans identifying boys be allowed to play in girls only teams?

So if you’d read the thread, I get it’s long, but you’d understand what nearly 1000 people have voted in support of on this thread.

In life we don’t have to police things, if we have no speed restrictions at all then most people would drive over a safe speed. If we put rules in place most people will adhere to them.

I am sure most trans identifying men would adhere to the correct box if it says biological sex.

Run as a woman, wear what you want, be welcomed and supported but data is data. If you have mixed sex data call it what it is.

Sorry, I didn’t think i was being rude but apologies if it came across that way.

Are you suggesting trans identifying men would not adhere to the request on a form for women’s sport data, because that is what it is.

Or are you saying that who cares if men are down as men or women?

Because many women do care. Not just on mumsnet

If it really is a bit of fun I'll stop getting timekeepers and barcode scanners and I won't construct a finish funnel or say "3, 2, 1, go". I'll just get some marshals to stand in the park and clap as people run or walk around at their own pace and whenever it suits them, doesn't even need to be 9am on a Saturday if we're not timing anything. Thanks for the suggestion!

I think people would be surprised how many women do care, but just don’t want to be seen publicly expressing these views. I’m quite outspoken about women’s rights (late 50s, long since cared what people think of me) and most men in my running club tell me I’m transphobic. To which I merely roll my eyes. The women (mostly quite a bit younger than me) say nothing in public but thank me privately for sticking up for women’s rights.

They don't. We're actively encouraged not to focus too much on the first finishers. In our social media guidelines it says "Refer to the “First Finisher” not the “Winner”, but overall less emphasis should be placed on faster runners and more so on general participation."

Course records were taken off of event pages when all this started becoming a thing. I still know what ours is though and it's ridiculously quick! Well done that man/woman/unknown gender individual.

If it really is a bit of fun I'll stop getting timekeepers and barcode scanners and I won't construct a finish funnel or say "3, 2, 1, go". I'll just get some marshals to stand in the park and clap as people run or walk around at their own pace and whenever it suits them, doesn't even need to be 9am on a Saturday if we're not timing anything. Thanks for the suggestion!