Parkrun to remove course records

No mention of how many extra barriers there are for women who want run. The number of hours available and places to run are massively reduced due to safety. Running solo opens you up to unwanted comments and sometimes abuse from random men

Totally agree with this.

It's a great shame it's come to this, but it's definitely got profile. Thank you Mara and others.

I miss the good old days when hardly anyone had heard of Parkrun but if you knew, you knew. Why does everything have to try and get bigger and 'better'?

Of course it's a positive to be inclusive but if calling Parkrun a race, celebrating course records and winners puts you off joining in, then just go a find a walking group. Not everything can be for everyone. Absolutely no one cares if you want to walk round. No one. So why can't those who enjoy 'racing' be allowed?

In the attempt to be something off everyone, they've pissed off the core group of parkrunners. Not to mention how dismissive of women.

No mention of how many extra barriers there are for women who want run. The number of hours available and places to run are massively reduced due to safety. Running solo opens you up to unwanted comments and sometimes abuse from random men.

I was training for a half marathon last year and my (male) running buddy planned a very scenic training run for us. I had to tell him I couldn't make it that week because I wasn't up to dealing with my period away from civilisation and running water.

Parkrun might not be the olympics but for many women is one of few opportunities they can run safely and celebrate their achievements - how ever fast or slow they might be. But as always it's the men with the ladyfeelz who take priority.

Last week I was out for lunch and there were two men in dresses at a table close by. They may not have identified as trans.

But they were male bodied people.

It isn't a thing of "getting off" (what a horrible expression) on people not looking female enough. Despite what people claim, we as humans know the difference between male and female. And as I also said above, the regular volunteers know the regular runners, and they'd know if someone was a transwoman and then broke the ladies' record.

Nobody cares if a transman gets the male category record because they are female bodied. Although some of the guys might not like being "chicked" I suppose!

this was the previous...
https://www.parkrun.com/blog/news/2023/07/20/gender-policy-at-parkrun/

Official announcement

I don't do parkrun any more.
My age/sex grading was pretty important to me, it is both/either a run and/or a race to me depending on my fitness.
DH and his pals are serious runners and some of them have course records, will be interested to see what's on his group chat today!

Parkrun HQ seem to enjoy embarrassing themselves.

There's two big lies here. 1. Men can be women. 2. It's not a race.

I find it odd that parkrun hq have not been explicit about this.

I am a king time volunteer and have had no email, can't see an announcement anywhere.

Why not be up front and clear if you stand by your (ridiculous) decision?

For a large organisation they just make themselves look silly. I'm embarrassed for them.

@NoMoreFalafelsForYou

Honestly, if you look at those who have won as women who are trans, they are very visibly male. It's really really obvious. I don't think that anyone needs to check everyone in the race - frankly, if it was clear that parkrun would check before posting a winning transwoman time as a course record, this would have enough of an effect on the race as a whole as it would clarify Parkrun's position.

I assumed this is what would happen, it was bound to be women's fault. Those pesky women should have just STFU so that a tiny minority of men could cheat, but no, they had to keep banging on about fairness. 🙄

I think the fact that they say anyone can register as any sex they want fuels this though. It normalises the idea that you can do that.

If they said, "you have to register as your birth sex", fewer men would try to register as women. It could still be difficult to police, but if it was clear that the runner is a man, they would have a case to say, "you don't belong in this category".

I certainly wouldn't support volunteers having to 'investigate' either on age or sex. Just make it clear it's based on sex MF, and a 'not willing to say' option sounds good too.

Maria seems to be getting angry comments on Twitter of the “hope you’re happy now” variety. Honestly guys, if it’s not necessary for women to compete, why is it different for men?

Thats the gender affirming way! didn't you get the memo?
The rights of 0.1% of the population outweigh those of 51% of the population because REASONS

Also don't ask questions because that makes you hitler.

But if a female course record was beaten by a very male-looking person, or indeed someone they knew was trans, they could flag it with parkrun HQ for further investigation

Ugh, it's attitudes like that that would put me off parkrun, not running alongside people who are trans.
Where do people get off deciding who is or isn't "female enough" looking?! Then taking it upon themselves to flag 🙄 for investigation.
Love how it is friendly and welcoming to everyone as it is when you turn up and run, which might not be so much so if you think there might be some self styled trans investigators there.

It's strange Parkrun has doubled down on this when most people value fair play

I think it's because they are a global organisation. They could have probably changed it for the UK. But I suspect they couldn't legally do it for Ireland, Canada or some or all states in Australia, for example.

Edited: I wouldn't expect volunteers to do any policing. But if a female course record was beaten by a very male-looking person, or indeed someone they knew was trans, they could flag it with parkrun HQ for further investigation.

Should get everyone talking about the issue which is a positive
if everyone complains it puts a lie to the “it’s not a race! “ argument from those unaffected by gender ideology ( males) as it clearly is!

I was one of the people supporting Mara on Saturday.
she is getting lots of abuse on twitter- if people are on there could they support her please.

I just don't really understand it. If you are so ashamed of your natal sex then this is the individual's problem, not the collective. Parkrun isn't exactly asking you to publicise your personal details to the world. And the event is inclusive, no one is banned from running!

It's strange Parkrun has doubled down on this when.most people value fair play.

I wouldn't be surprised if an alternative was set up to catch all those who enjoy the stats - of which there are many. Competitive amateurs.

They do have an opt out option already which removes sex and age gradings from an individual’s results. One of the record holders had used this recently and asked for it to be backdated so her records had already gone from the website before yesterday’s change.

I think they could offer a "NA" option for sex so that the person doesn't get counted in sex based rankings at all. I can see that making a TW tick male and everyone seeing it in the results could make them feel unwelcome and is a solution that will make life harder for the volunteers.

Also, everyone could opt in or out of being identified in the rankings, so the "just a fun run" group diluted those that identified as the opposite sex, or those who didn't want their age listed either, for example.

I don't think Parkrun can police everyone to check they are telling the truth, but could look more carefully at record holders, not allow people to change their sex on the records and make it acceptable for race directors to flag up dishonesty for further review.

Their are much better solutions that suit everyone than people losing out so men don't get upset at not being allowed to take things from women.

Exactly this. It's worth establishing a principle just as it's worth having a law against stealing even though people will still steal.

Personally I find the response from males who'd been sneering that "it's only a fun run" when it was only females affected quite hilarious!

Shuffling all the records out of sight and just hoping that the badly behaved women will just shut up now is pathetic.

Spot on