ParkRun and Transgender record breaker

[PennysLane]

Trans runner (M to F) has smashed a woman’s record. Turns out he’s an attempted murderer too.

He attempted to murder the HR Manager of U.K. Athletics after he investigated his eligibility to compete as a woman. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Jeska )

I have enjoyed Parkrun on several occasions with my children, I’ll not be doing it again until they get this sorted. If at all.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/22/parkrun-self-id-male-runners-smash-womens-records/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/23/transgender-murder-parkrun/

If it truly isn't a race then Parkrun should stop publishing records then, shouldn't they?

Truth is, for some people it absolutely is a race, for others it is not. It can be both things.

I don't see how parkrun as a fun run can be a thin end of the wedge. Organised races where there are penalties for swapping numbers and actual prizes is where things become more official but unlimited numbers grass roots sports is a lot less relevant than any team sports or where people are directly knocked out of the competition because no opportunities are taken away.

One particular parkrun had what I called the path of temptation which cut off a few hundred metres and always called to me as I was struggling up the hill (zigzag path). I always considered it then realised I was only going to cheat myself, but every week on the second lap, the thought was there.

If I'm not running with a friend, the person just in front of me is my competition. As is anyone coming up behind them. I don't care if they're in my category or not, just by giving me a reason to keep running (rather than walk) they give me a time boost.

If it isn't a race, they need to remove age/sex gradings. It's as simple as that. But they won't as they know how much this motivates many to participate and to keep participating.
So as an alternative, they need to stop endorsing lying on the form as per this marketing piece https://blog.parkrun.com/uk/2020/02/12/where-i-know-im-always-welcome/ and ask people to be honest about their sex, putting male/female/would rather not say. That would be a start. And if you 'would rather not say' your score is not entered into age/sex categories. This isn't hard for parkrun, they just don't want to get hassled by the woke online mob.

Then, once again, stop publishing results.

And delete historical records.

If it truly isn't a race then Parkrun should stop publishing records then, shouldn't they?
There's no men and women's category when there, you just run, walk, whatever, and all set off together.
An hour or so after the race after the times have been processed they upload the scores so you can check yours, see if you've beaten your personal best or whatever.
Maybe they should do away with mentioning sex at all, just have all the people running in one list, that way everybody happy. Well, youd think so anyway

How are you supposed to check your time if they don't publish your result?

MN is full of shorthand. I can't say I love 'cis', but it's quicker than writing 'women who were assigned a sex of female at birth' and no less stupid than DH as shorthand for husband.

you could just write woman which is shorter than "cis-woman"?

There's no concept of competing at parkrun. Frankly, I find it astonishing you keep treating it as a race. It's not.

so why do they publish times and have records and categories? Surely if it is just a "fun thing to do" it should just let people participate and have zero records and categories?

I really like their idea of having closed runs in prisons, that is something i didn't know and i applaud it.

Spot the person who's never done a parkrun. You get a text! Doesn't have to be public AT ALL!

Or Parkrun could have a Trans category.
Wow, talk about othering.
Maybe put a marker on their scores, or somewhere saying they're trans too?
🙄

There's no men and women's category when there, you just run, walk, whatever, and all set off together.

...but essentially that is like a race. If you do a local 10k they don't start men and women separately, everyone starts together and results sorted and published at the end

How do you know they are men? Because someone said they were? Who’s checking, and how?
Are they also going to start removing category records where someone was alleged to have cut a corner? Or where the funnel got messed up? Because that’s not fair either, right?

You get a text?! Yours must be more fancier than ours, as we don't!
Unless it's a new addition as admittedly I haven't been for a while and could have started them up for all I know but you definitely don't get texts.
Or didnt anyway, or maybe it varies on area, who knows

Who’s checking, and how?
That's just it isnt it.

They can start by not openly condoning men registering as female by asking for birth as rather than gender identity or gender.

You’re not suggesting that trans people would lie about their birth sex are you? Everyone knows what sex they were born.

If you want to receive your results by text, you can opt into that. It's a personal preference controlled via your individual parkrun profile.

You could use your own stopwatch.

Decathlon sells a specific running stopwatch on a wristband for £13.99.

I’m not super keen on the concept of publishing results anyway, given Parkrun is not supposed to be a race.

But you’ll never please everyone. There’s no feasible way for Parkrun to check people’s sex ,or age, or anything else. If you rely on reports that opens up a huge can of worms. So people either accept that Parkrun results are not 100% accurate- they aren’t 100% accurately timed, sometimes people will self identify as a man or a woman, or misrepresent their age etc - or they stop publishing the results altogether. But then people who like the results won’t be happy.

👏Wonderful post 👏

Interestingly, most people (and dogs, babies and some horses) can tell what sex someone is at a glance. This has worked effectively for many years alongside people knowing what sex they were born and having a degree of personal integrity meaning they don’t pretend to be something they are not.

It’s only since the recent mass promotion of gender ideology that grown adults are now claiming they can’t look at someone and immediately tell what sex they are with a 99-100% degree of accuracy.

If there is no concept of competing then why are course records even published?

A picture is worth a thousand words.

here's no concept of competing at parkrun. Frankly, I find it astonishing you keep treating it as a race. It's not.

Astonishing that they update the record constantly to show who does it fastest.....almost like a race?

We're not asking them to apply "race standards". We're asking them to have a policy which says that people must enter their sex, rather than their gender identity, in the same way they ask people to give their date of birth, not the age they would like to be.

Have a clear policy. That's easy to do, and free. And doesn't require volunteers to do anything.

Othering? What does that even mean? Is having a mens category othering men?