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?

It’s not like there’s not notice. I hate running but I think you’re being unreasonable here. It’s only an hour or so.

It's inconvenient for me to have to queue in the shop on my lunch break when I'm on a time limit but I can't get cross with the other people who just happen to be shopping at the same time as me can I

Quite, @mumbo34 . I'd like the drivers on the busy road I have to cross to stop 'taking priority' and feeling so 'entitled' to stop me crossing quickly. Sometimes I have to walk ALL THE WAY to the crossing when I don't have much time. But it's just ridiculous to live like that!

Would you say the same for a cricket match?

I mean if I wanted to walk across the park at precisely the moment they wanted to play cricket should I be entitled to that and should they just make way? Or should I go round?

I thought it was a fairly common understanding that it's impolite - actually, beyond impolite, it's anti-social - to block the way for someone on the pavement or on a path. I was taught that you should have some awareness of other people around you and make sure you're not inconveniencing them. If you inadvertently block someone's way and they ask you to move, you should apologise and let people through.

It's what my parents taught me and I have passed on to my own kids.

It seems to me to be pretty basic decent behaviour. You obviously don't agree. At least we know where stand now. (On a path, breezily blocking the way, in your case.)

I would say the same for a cricket match if it was taking place on the main pathway through the park, preventing people from walking through the park. If it was taking place on an area specifically prepared to play cricket on, then no.

And using the exact same logic, there's no reason why a dog walker should take priority over people running. The Parkrunners are not an homogeneous entity, they are all separate individuals, or possibly small groups, all with a right to run in the park. They just happen to choose to run at the same time under the Parkrun umbrella, which is their right. Each of those people have the same right as everyone else using it for another reason. And yes, some of those individuals are rude and entitled, just like some of the dog walkers are rude and entitled.

Blame the individual for being rude and discourteous, not the group.

@MasterBeth you sound joyless. Maybe a parkrun would do you good.

the start and finish point is just where parking becomes free and particularly in season parking is a massive issue in coastal towns. Unless they all get changed I never ever see people in running gear or even proper trainers coming in and I work in town. The start is also not really near any proper public transport so it does seem daft that people travel miles and miles in cars to do something they can do on their doorstep

So you are expecting a regular fitness event that has been in existence for nearly twenty years that benefits hundreds of local residents and businesses to bend over to accommodate the needs of one person?

You're right. Dog walkers shouldn't have priority. They should make sure their use of the park doesn't inconvenience or intimidate other park users. That's the whole point. Every user of a public place should be thinking about how their actions impact others

What utter nonsense, so if I decided to turn up at 0830 on a Saturday with 500 mates and have a massive football match just where Park Run was about to start they would happily just move out of the way is that what you are saying ? Because they would not they would get all aggressive and believe that we were doing something we should not.

if something is arranged to bring lots of people together it becomes an event not individual.

I expect them to keep a small section of a wide public footpath clear for other users, yes. That would hardly inconvenience them, would it?

Our market is on for 6 hours and sold out of a lot in 3 or 4. So I'd have to leave the house at 8am to get back before park run or at 10am when I have other things to do that day. People are often walking through the park on a Saturday morning for a reason.

So you need to walk through the park to buy stuff at a market?

Keeping to the left in single file is hardly bending over. It's just sharing.

Not many to get to a weekly market since the middle ages to be fair.

I bet you're talking about South West London as well

To shop for food, yes.

If parkrun has laps, then the path that they are using is busier for longer. A one lap parkrun would only be busy for about 10 minutes at the beginning and then everyone would spread out but a three or four lap parkrun has people overtaking and the whole area probably feels quite busy for about 25 minutes.

They are some seaside ones close to me where we do probably take over most of the promenade and it must be annoying. But we do pay to park and loads of people go to the café afterwards and spend money in the towns.

If it's inconvenient could you shop elsewhere?

Or catch a slightly earlier train thus avoiding having to walk through the park during the run???

It sounds like you are suggesting that people should not be able to walk through the park at a time of their choosing so to accommodate Park Run. Is that what you are saying ?

No, a market town in the SW. Farmers' markets aren't unusual.

It seems to me to be pretty basic decent behaviour. You obviously don't agree. At least we know where stand now. (On a path, breezily blocking the way, in your case

Oh, a personal attack. Thanks, @MasterBeth That demeans your argument further.

Groups are allowed to gather. It's that simple. If you don't like it, groups will still gather, and you'll be pissed off.

You're the only one who comes out unhappy. What a win! What do you suggest, regarding group gatherings? That groups must part to make a path for you? Cnut...

You are supporting Park run blocking pavements to others and this is why people have a problem with Park Run.

Yes, you are right, but that's what I'm saying. Parkrun as an entity is getting the blame. That's a red herring as "Parkrun" is not the problem. It is the very, very small minority of the individuals that take part in the run that are causing a problem by pushing, swearing, not keeping left, whatever else has been brought up.

I have had loads of problems, on a daily basis, with dogs in my local park, I don't seek to blame "DogOwners" as an entity and seek to ban them from the park. Because that would be unreasonable, it's a relatively small minority compared to the amount of dogs in the park.

Parkrun is on at a set time for a limited time and is easily avoided. I cannot avoid the nuisance of dogs running up to me, damaging my clothes, even once knocking me over in the park, every single day... I know in the grand scheme of things which is less troublesome for the vast majority of park users. There are probably one or two ignorant Parkrunners per hundred runners. I would say there are probably ten times that amount of uncontrolled dogs in my local park per capita.