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?

ignorant… our town market has over 5k of people visit each Saturday during the summer and 3k in the winter. Many people like quality local
produce not the shit from Aldi.

Not suggesting anything, just curious that is the reason for having to walk through a park at that exact time

it does seem daft that people travel miles and miles in cars to do something they can do on their doorstep

ah well parkrun hq agrees with you on that - they discourage tourism to other parkruns for environmental reasons, although they go round the parkruns themselves. Clear case of do as I saw not as I do.

Of course a lot of people don't have a parkrun on their doorstep, even in the UK, so they have to drive. Until a couple of years ago I had to drive but now have one within cycling/walking distance and rarely go elsewhere.

Do you expect every time you leave your front door to not be at times inconvenienced with interactions with the outside world?

The market is in town. As are other shops that I can't get to in the week as I'm working when they are open. Saturday morning is a very busy time in town with many people walking in, including people near me walking through 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

I agree totally.

Could you go via the road ?

It is half an hour once a week at 9am. Give over.

@Cromwell1905

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

Suggesting that a group is allowed to meet in a public place isn't supporting the blocking of anything. On most pavements, 2 or 3 people standing side by side will cause a blockage. Most of us can handle the mild irritation.

But if we're clearing away ParkRun because they're in your way, can we clear the M25 for me? Such a group of cars gathers there. I can't really change my schedule, so they need to shift, really. Can't believe nothing is being done about this. For me.

I have to walk through twice. So one of those times does usually fall in park run time.

So less custom than one moderately sized supermarket? And that's a whole town? Fuck

Weekly market shopping is a minority hobby generally reserved for those that sneer at lidl.

or park run goes down the promenade path it’s split in half one for walkers one for wheels they stick to the left but this means that at many points they blocking the whole path those running out those running back and blocking the cycle lane or pushing the pedestrians into the cycle lane.

as we are a lovely coastal town we have many many out of towners come here blocking the parking and blocking the sea front path.

Regardless of whether it’s for 5 minutes or 5 hours it is not fair for them to do this and take the use of this path away particularly for locals.

parkrunners don't block pavements. They don't often use pavements, for a start. I do know one where there is a short stretch on a pavement, but it's nowhere near a town centre and there are plenty of other options to walk if you really wanted to get along that stretch, eg the other side of the road.

Anyway I am really glad to have one time in the week when I can run in my local park without being hassled by dogs. Dogs are allowed to take part in my parkrun, but they have to be on short leads and there aren't very many of them.

So can people please stop moaning about me having 30 minutes a week when I can run in peace? You get the rest of the week!

Only one train every 2 hours to where I needed to get to.

They would literally have had to wait 4 abreast rather than 5 abreast.

I don’t get why so many people are against Parkrun needing to share the space.

So you have changed your stance on people not going to markets. Our town has about 10,000 homes so 5k of people at a market makes it important. Do you understand how a local market helps the community so yes I will sneer at Lidyl I want local money to stay in my community and support the local economy.

if everyone tried ti buy locally it would make things better for everyone

It's not a good route, the path is narrow next to the road. Everyone walks through the park into town. I only want people to keep to the left and look where they are going. Not run two abreast and almost run into me when I am walking to the left, in a straight line, leaving plenty of space for others. Maybe park run could redirect along the road instead if they don't want to share.

so yes I will sneer at Lidyl

Wow. Shameless judgement. What about people who can't afford the market? Sneering at those too?

Not sure how it's a personal attack when I'm just repeating your argument back to you.

What do I suggest regarding group gatherings? That the group doesn't gather on the path in the 30 minutes before the start and/or that the path is segregated down the middle so other park users can get through.

I don't think that groups must part to make a path for me. I think groups should organise themselves so that anyone can get past. And I think Parkrun as a body should do more to think about how groups of hundreds of people behave.

I don’t get why so many people are against Parkrun needing to share the space

It DOES share the space. If there are individuals who are twits, that is on them.

2/3 of the park run here has a wall or pebble beach on one side and a road on another so suggesting they don’t run in the road is not right.

I run three times a week I can not remember being hassled by a dog. I guess like the park run here areas are different

I do both. I buy plenty of store cupboard stuff at Aldi or Lidl. It's a mix of Aldi or Lidl and local for me.

It doesn’t if you can’t get past the people to get where you need to go…

The organisers should do something other than watch like they do at ours.

And I don't like the fact that I can NEVER go to the park on ANY day at ANY time and not have at least one encounter with an off-lead dog. It's a lovely park so lots of people from all over come and let their dogs poo everywhere and jump up at people. I'd love it if dogs were only in there for 5 minutes or even 5 hours on a Saturday so I could avoid the area. It's not fair that there is NEVER a time in the park when you can be sure to be unmolested, particuarly for the locals. What's your answer to that one?