Reality Rules Parkrun Launch 3 October 2026

It’s not a race, it’s simply for fun, people are taking it way too seriously! Perhaps they could add a trans category but as you self certify for parkrun you can just lie about sex anyway. The only person who you are cheating is yourself!

I managed to knock 15 minutes off my time from starting running until covid thwarted my progress, nothing to do with anyone else but me. I really should return to it!

I really came on here mainly to explain the mechanics of the protest. If you feel strongly then you could join it. They have a substack and a twitter account you can follow for full instructions for the week of 3rd October. I’ve been thinking to myself whether people who feel strongly the other way could or should make their own parkrun running group to counter it. I do think it is hard to come up with reasoned arguments to support self identity into gender catagories without taking into account feelings. If you do away with catagories altogether then only young men can compare their performances really.

I wouldn’t want to be run director if a protesting group turned up to my event which ever side of the issue they were protesting against.

Advocating for a ‘middle ground’ here indicates that you think both sides have a reasonable point.

But that’s blatantly not the case. Why would it ever be okay for men to take part in women’s sex specific categories? That’s a completely unreasonable ask.

In cases like this, they should just be told no.

As a white person I'm not affected in any way by racism, so I'll just go on with my day and pay no attention to anyone who is being discriminated against because of their colour. No interest, No drama. Not for me.
As someone who has no kids, kids being abused has no effect on me whatsoever, so I'll just go about my day. No interest, No drama. Not for me
The list could go on and on,

Just the little of matter of unlawful discrimination against women.

What other kinds of unlawful discrimination should we put up with in publicly funded spaces?

Agree.

If you don’t like the way Parkrun is done, don’t participate. No one is forcing you or anyone else to be involved. Plenty of things take place in public spaces that I have no interest in, so I just go about my day. No dramas.

There is no middle ground, a category for women is for women, letting men compete in it stops it being a category for women.

There's no middle ground. You can either support women's right to have their own category or you do away with women's right to have their own category, there is no middle ground.
Just because 'trans' people might feel they're being excluded doesn't mean they are, you can't appease people who are factually wrong, there is no middle ground.

Anyone trying to make a case for there being one is just going to tie themselves into knots because you can't just create middle ground where it is not possible to have any.

I don't feel empathy for everyone else, I have to admit.

I feel empathy for people whose predicament I feel worthy of empathy.

Cheaters, predators, liars - no, I don't feel empathy for them. Do you think that I should?

If women's rights include men, they don't exist.

It's not a purity spiral to say that women's rights are for women, and not for men.

What ‘purity spiral’ are you seeing here when you have a bunch of women saying ‘no, don’t give up on women’s rights because men are making threats and bullying’.

Is that a purity spiral?

But ... your solution is for women to concede to men.

How is that the middle ground? Why is it that women coming in second, putting men first, is always the default?

On this subject, lots of middle ground suggestions have been made - additional gender categories, an open category, dropping the public sharing of individual results.

but just feel that parkrun is perhaps a place where making everyone feel welcome is the most important.

They aren't making everyone feel welcome though. They are making people in their tribe feel welcome. Which is fine, but not when they receive extensive public funding, both financially and in kind.

But parkrun very blatantly aren't prioritising inclusivity over competition. They are just prioritising men over women. I

n sport, women who identify as trans have the choice of taking testosterone and being uncompetitive as men or forgoing hormone treatment and competing as women., but somehow these options are not acceptable for men. (Which tells you everything you need to know about who is being treated as a woman and who is being treated as a man. Can't damage that male ego).

If they wanted to prioritise inclusivity parkrun could provide the results in a different way, but they clearly don't want to lose the very competitive men who take part in parkrun.

When a man is first female finisher every week everyone knows what is going on. Running speed is very outing. All that is happening is that male pride is being prioritised over female inclusion. (No change there then).

When you allow men to compete in the women's category it makes a mockery of women's participation in sport. You are saying that the category does not exist because women have different physiology and are just as entitled to take part in competitive sport as men, but because it is an afterthought and a concession to the silly ladies and their silly idea that women's sport is as important as men's sport. There is nothing inclusive about this what so ever.

You know how transactivists behave at protests.

And so women should just not have rights? They should put up with discriminatory practices?

ParkRun isn’t a running club, it’s an event series. Lots of clubs run at ParkRun, and from the scant information provided this new one intends to too.

ParkRun could switch to an ‘open’ and ‘female’ category system (same as cycling) and set the clear expectation that the female category is for biological females only.

As noted, ParkRun sets rules (eg around age categories, PEDs) but does not have any way of enforcing them. That’s fine - no one expects a free, volunteer-run, organisation to have an enforcement system, appeals system etc. it’s about setting the rules and expectations and hoping that people do the decent thing and abide by them.

I do have something to say to men who show no empathy to women. I think everyone should show everyone else empathy.

I think the two extremes have become purity spirals. Even J K Rowling fell foul this when she tweeted something mildly empathetic towards trans people.

“I also know that this doesn’t mean the most aggressive side should ‘win’

And yet, that is exactly what you are arguing for…

It's really very simple. I'm middle-aged, female, and not particularly fast, so I'm way down the field at ParkRun. But I can compare myself to other women of the same age, and see if I'm relatively fast or slow; in that group I might be 4th out of 10, which is an incentive to keep participating, or maybe to try running a bit faster to see if I can be 2nd or 3rd. Once I even won my category.

I don't compare myself to 20-year olds, and I don't compare myself to men. And if a man were running in my category (or a 20-year old, come to that), I'd be well pissed off.

How about empathy for women and gjrls gaving their achievements overshadowed by cheating males?

Also ‘empathy’ doesn’t mean giving into someone’s demands no matter what the consequence to others.

I can be empathetic towards these men, but at the same time think it is 100% wrong for them to expect women to give up with single sex rights to accommodate them.

But you have nothing to say about the men who show NO empathy towards women. Nothing

Why are these men just muscling in and trying to bully women into submission? Why do you support that?

Because everything you’ve said here shows you support it.

Why do you think women should be full of empathy for men who want to take their stuff from them and show zero empathy towards women?

Why does anyone show any empathy towards anyone else? Because we are decent human beings and don’t assume that all people in particular group think the same way? I don’t engage in tit for tat empathy? I just care about other people? Yes that does include women.

Why do you think women should be full of empathy for men who want to take their stuff from them and show zero empathy towards women?

You are coming across as someone with a massive amount of internal misogyny.

You seem to think women should just give up fighting for their rights when male bullies start being difficult.

I suggest you reflect a bit on why that’s your position.

Okay, I’m running out of time. I’m not leaving the thread because I won’t talk to you all. It’s because I have to go out.

In general, the two extreme positions seem to be that the trans activist say trans women should be treated as women in all circumstances including prisons, hospital wards, women’s prizes, women’s sport and that the only care available for anyone with gender dysphoria no matter how young they are is affirming care with medical and surgical treatment.

Any deviation from this and you are a hateful bigot.

I actually agree that the general gender critical position is not an extreme position. It is just based in reality.

However, any slight deviation from hardline of trans women are men. Any empathy for trans women - maybe looking at things from their point of view and trying to understand how they feel - or willingness to use she/her pronouns and the person is now considered a trans activist and needs correcting.