To think Parkrun shouldn't take priority over the rest of the public?

[MaryRoze]

9.30am every Saturday, our biggest park is inundated with Parkrunners. There are hundreds of them.

They take up the 3 biggest car parks (including the one at the start of the dog walking trail), meaning I need to park at the furthest away one. Not a problem except I can't get to the furthest away one because volunteers stop the traffic to let the runners go past.

Once I get parked, I'm pushed to the side of all the main paths because they're running 3 or 4 abreast. I try to go down the muddier gravel paths, but they're down there too. An older couple today got a "fuck sake" because they couldn't move out of one runners way quick enough.

Parents are being stopped from crossing the path between car park and playground with their kids because the runners are passing by.

I get that Parkrun is fantastic for people's physical health and mental health, and it's clearly very popular but AIBU to think they need to be courteous of other park users too?

FFS, everyone who's not taking part is not some heathen to be converted! This is why people talk about it as a cult!

Hmm... I wonder why everyone else is avoiding the park at that time...

...because dogs are unpredictable and how is someone deliberately choosing to let loose a dog "sharing the space" ? but instead decided that he would do this to cause maximum trouble for people running, many of whom are children running with parents or on their own.

Why should anyone be defending this sort of behavior?

Thankfully, most non runners/dog walkers in & around PRs are not like this and act accordingly, with consideration.

No, people start gathering way before the start and start roping or coning off public areas.

Park Run is a public good and a reasonable use of public space.

I don't believe there are many people out there who HAVE to go for a park walk at this one specific time of week and at no other time. Yes, others should change their schedules to avoid it if it bothers them. Compromising individual desires for the sake of the community is part of living in society; insisting that people must be free to walk undisturbed at this one specific time of week is a sad hill for community spirit to die on.

Ridiculous.

..and? St Lukes Hospice coned off our local car park for their annual garden visits, i'm not a gardener but i accept each to their own.

St Lukes also organise a mountain bike ride on Dartmoor, if you re moaning about a few runners, you'll have a heart attack when 300 bikes come speeding past!!

i dare say some misery guts would take offence at these as well.

And you've posted a picture of people enjoying themselves peacefully. I can't see the self-important leader standing on a box with a megaphone corralling hundreds of others into a big crowd blocking everyone else's way on your picture.

The dog ran in front of me. I was there first. Why couldn't the owner have waited or gone elsewhere? It's not a tiny park.

It's one hour a week. One hour. Just go to the park afterwards? Or go to a different park?

If you think park run only has activity for five minutes at the start you clearly have no understanding of what these events entail. One of the other problems is that as people turn up (maybe 45 mins before the start) they will shout across to each other it’s noisy for a long time before.

the concern for me is anyone who runs and can not see the impact park run has on others if you can’t see this you should not be allowed to run.

I don’t want them banned but I do want people to be considerate about other people and the impact park run has on them.

Runners can run anywhere. Runners can run in the park at any time. They don't need to be in groups of 3-400.

If you want exclusivity for you run you need to go to a track, you get dogs in parks people can let them off even if you have to stop for one second is that a big issue ? You don’t seem to think it an issue for them to wait to let the dog off so stop or run round there is no right of way in a park for one pedestrian over another.

It does sound like the organisation of your Parkrun is poor, though. Runners are always told they don't own the paths and to be considerate of other park users. I'd contact the organisers to complain.

You could do with trying it yourself to get some endorphins and make you less snappy.

It's simplest for them to stagger when they go across the week when they won't inconvenience anyone.

Depending on the size of the dog it could either
Be jumping at you or chasing you (yes both have happened lots of times) or
If it's a little ankle biter run round your feet being a trip hazard

What an incredibly arrogant post so everyone who is not on park run needs to change their time to accommodate park run, really ? Do you not see the irony in your post.

do you really think that someone who lives by a park run should give priority to all the people who drive many miles to get there ?

I run I don’t need to run with hundreds of others and cause a nuisance to others to get the same benefits from running that you get.

you need to have a more considerate attitude and accept what other la wish to do before you command when they should do what they want to do.

PR venues are huge, there is plenty of room for everyone, our two local ones, are in a huge Forest and the other in a city centre park of over 230 acres, 2.5miles long and 1/2 mile wide.

But it seems that some people on here, are so entitled that they wont share these huge spaces for the common good.

Have to wonder what they are like to those around them in the rest of their sad lives.

Well it’s clearly not helping you be less bitchy 🙄

I boggling at the person who thinks its ok to let their dog off the lead in a crowded park.

As a Parkrunner myself, I was appalled to read parts of the OP,, especially the bit about runners being snarky to other members of the public. At my local Parkrun, the Race Director always reminds us that we share the area with other members of the public who have as much right to be there as we do, and to treat them with respect.

I find some runners don't look where they are going or fall into single file to pass other path users. They run up one heavily used path in our local park that is the route into town. Many aren't even looking up and fail to keep left when someone is coming the other way, perhaps expecting them to jump onto the grass, which can be muddy or slippery. The runners are wearing trainers so they can move onto the grass to run around the walkers if need be. Some walkers are elderly and the path is only wide enough for two. There is also a wider bike path that would be a better route for the runners. Walkers are often forced to walk on the bike path instead.

If the dog is chasing or jumping up or chasing them that's a problem in itself and it should obviously not be off the lead.

My own experience was being sworn at by a male park runner for having a dog off the lead that was just minding her own business sniffing the bushes (idk what's so "boggling" about that).

I genuinely don't know if you are taking about the park runners or the dog walkers etc.

My experience has been that some (not all of course) park runners have been unwilling to share the space with other park users.

The route that our local park run takes is a popular route into town and Saturday morning is market day so many do walk to town to buy food at this time. It would be better if parkrun was on a Sunday morning in my town as it's much quieter then.