Women's Park Run Record smashed to smithereens

[changedforanswer]

The way to beat records for men to self ID and run as a female. Straight into the record books and stand aside females whilst man in dress sets the record. Is nothing safe from men anymore?

Was a married man until just 4 years ago.

When you are supporting something in the Daily Mail, you really need to reassess your priorities.

Either compete as birth sex or have a third space for t trans runners?

I don't know. I think it's odd that transpersons have always been around and there was never this fear that not calling them by their preferred/identified gender was damaging.

like with misgendering. I have never once heard of a transperson who has been harmed by it. It won't kill a trans athlete to run under their birth sex.

What about those of us who recognise it's not on from reading the story elsewhere? I wouldn't touch the Daily Mail or most newspapers with a barge pole, doesn't mean the situation the OP mentions is acceptable.

This makes me so angry. 😡 Males should not be allowed in female sports

I think it is harsh to name and shame like this and to associate this person with an attempted murderer (Daily mail for you I guess). If you read about or listen to interviews they come across as quite moderate and after all has self declared ’gender’ in line with parkrun’s rules.

There are two other option when you register for parkrun - ‘prefer not to say’ and ‘another gender identity.’ Rather than picking on someone who is actually a real person too with feelings it would be better to persuade parkrun to alter their policy.

No transperson should be abused, discriminated against or made to feel less than. But I don't believe asking them to use their birth sex or original name in certain contexts is literal violence.

it's an insult to those of us who have survived actual horrific abuse to act as though being told they're not really a woman or man is even remotely comparable.

I think you have a point there. The issue is with Parkrun is allowing here. Not the individual.

Except he’s a man, not a woman. I could win the primary school year 1 sports day race but it would be cheating.

I never know with these posts if you’re being sarcastic, so sorry if I’ve got it wrong!!

Parkrun is just for fun. Parkrun decided that. You get a time so you can measure your own improvement but it is very specifically not a race.

The answer for this event is to stop publishing the records.

As PP says, I know who I'd like to finish in front of. I know who I need to chase to improve my time but I'm not racing them. Not at parkrun.

He. Not it. I don't approve of him competing as a woman but he is a human being. No human being is an it.

We’ll just have to have two records books. A woke record book and a real record book.

Somebody called Helen Jenkins holds the female course record at Porthcawl parkrun though.

I am what people would call GC, I also do parkrun. I have deselected the gender option in my profile.
Having been involved in competitive sport nearly all my life, I am very much for sport in the majority being segregated by sex HOWEVER I actually think an institution like parkrun could be a great example of where they truly go all in on their inclusive ethos, and say they are removing any ranking all together.
Sure some people would be pissed off, but you'd still get a time.
I really think this arsing about in limboland does no-one any favours, and I would support parkrun in this.
It's a run, not a race. There's PLENTY of races out there for people to track their improvements if that is what floats their boat.

Daily Mail are just shit stirring here, they can't even report the story properly, and I'm sad to see Mara Yamauchi dragged into it.

parkrunner here too.
Selecting your gender and age gets you an age graded score and also a placing in your category eg female 40-45. On the few times I have made it into the top 3 of my category I have been elated.

Lots of people do care about the data and it is endlessly analysed for trends by parkrun and parkrun geeks.

Of course parkrun have no way of policing if your gender matches your sex but I do hope this individual is not celebrated by them.

I’m no fan of the Daily Mail but your statement would include all the decent work they did around the Stephen Lawrence case.

parkrun have never celebrated an age grading record specific to one parkrun event that I have ever seen. To talk about event-specific age grade results as 'the record books' really is over egging the cake.
If people wanted to analyse the stats, they would perhaps see that this parkrunner's grading is actually comparable to other age grade records at this parkrun.
I don't agree that the grading should be done on gender identity, I think parkrun could do away with gender/sex ranking altogether, and the people who are fussed about the stats can vote with their feet.

FFS

Why? That person has made their choices. Those choices adversely affect women parkrunners. I don’t care how well they pass. (Bit of surgery has gone on there too). They still have the physical advantages they were born with as a result of their sex.

Why don't we do away with sex categories altogether? Sport's for men after all.

It really has. And you demonstrate a (wilful?) complete lack of understanding as to why some people who aren’t elite athletes take part in races such as Park Run. Just because YOU don’t care who wins doesn’t mean every lady does. Enough of this ‘be kind’ crap. I’ll be kind when men stop cheating.

Are you completely unable to see nuance and complexity, and unwilling to have any sort of discussion around where group physical activity could be conducted in a mixed sex manner?

I compete in rugby and rowing, two sports where male advantage is not only unfair but also downright dangerous to me. I also compete in touch rugby in mixed sex teams, where the rules and tactics allow for safe and fair competition.
But - parkrun pitch themselves as an inclusive and non-competitive activity, so I think that would be fine if they actually went all the way, and said we are no longer going to record sex and gender at all, just come and run and get your time.
It would - in my opinion - really help further open conversation around WHY many sporting activities are segregated by sex.

But no, it's fine, you just assume that I think sport is for men.

And honestly, all you people calling it Park Run...