To think ParkRun need to consider banning racers?

[justletusrun]

My local parkrun has been overtaken by drama this week, after some men attended and basically turned the entire thing into a glorified race for themselves. They were pushing people out of the way, swearing at them and shouting at them to let them through.

I always thought the point of parkrun was to go and enjoy a 5k run and some socialising after. But it seems that across the country they’re being overtaken by people who are obsessed with “winning” it and getting the PB as a “chip time”.

i understand the sense of achievement you get from getting a PB, but I don’t think parkrun is the place to do it. Myself and many other women who have been attending for years are now considering not going again because it is so unpleasant.

AIBU to say they need to clamp down on this, before it becomes a big men’s club?

We are always told that we don't have exclusive use of the park and to make way for other park users . Also, it's 9am on a saturday, there are a fee dog walkers and thr saturday morning kids football club
Poor behaviour such as pushing should not be tolerated but parkrun is for everyone.

Local authority football / rugby / cricket pitches require specialist year round maintenance, marking out, posts, post pads, netting, boundary ropes, corner flags etc. They are usually adjacent to a clubhouse that also requires maintenance, cleaning, electricity, hot water, security etc. For use of the above the council charges teams/clubs a rental fee to cover their overheads.

Park run require an open space for assembly of runners (start / finish area) and a footpath for the actual course. These require a fraction of the maintenance the above specialist sports require and is covered by your local council tax.

Pitches need upkeep - mowing, marking out, supply of goal posts etc which all cost the LA. It also means they can have a booking system so that two groups don't turn up at the same time to use the pitch. There may also be insurance costs that need to be covered.

Or maybe it is that LAs see the benefit of parkrun and don't want to go against the ethos of parkrun being free to all. I suppose historically only a few people turned up to each one so there was little impact on other park users, but now they tend to be much bigger so there is more impact on other park users, but also more crowding between the runners which leads to the pushing and shoving behaviour of some participants.

Parkrun is for everyone. That's their slogan.
You can't say faster runners can't do it just as you can't say slower runners (or even walkers) can't do it.
It's for everyone, to do it how they like, including racing or walking.
Rude behaviour is unrelated to this.
I've done over 120 park runs and only heard of this once, the RD warned against it the follwowing week in the introduction.
Also, parkrun is great for women. Many women won't run alone, and are nervous about joining clubs.
Our local PR (and all the ones I've visited) have huge amounts of women of all ages running, having a great time without harrassment.

PR isn't for everyone in my local park so the rest of us have gone back to enjoying the park.

Hard to imagine how hundreds of runners doesn't result in maintenance issues. I guess the ones who appear suddenly and disappear after precisely 60 minutes actually hover over the route.

No harassment for runners but runners don't extend the same courtesy to others. Oh well maybe if all the people experiencing problems contact their LA they can also get their parks back.

I'm just happppy they are no longer allowed to use our local park.

I think you should spearhead a national campaign to abolish parkrun, @TheignT. No doubt you'll be delighted to pay the increased taxes to pay for the mental and physical health problems which parkrun is currently helping to address for nothing.

I can’t believe you’re still talking about it! Parkrun is brilliant for the health of local communities.

Community run health initiatives are brilliant and will prevent further issues like cardiovascular and joint issues later in life, but you will always get the naysayers, who would presumably rather pay more taxes to pay for NHS care for people who could have just done a park run once a week.

And yet you were the one who started the complaints and here you still are.

Or PR could be treated like any other activity and runners could respect other people (including other runners) and not be so entitled

I 💚 parkrun and it’s done wonders for me socially, mentally and physically.

The average park run attendance in the UK is about 200 people. The largest one unsurprisingly is Bushy Park with roughly 1300 participants. Other notable big runs are Battersea, Southampton, Clapham Common and Poole that average around 1000. My local one is Bushy Park, they are pretty efficient these days in how they set up and dismantle the event (not much to do insofar as several large flags). The local cafes get nice boost post event as everyone grabs a coffee or a sticky bun. It is a bit of a local institution and everyone knows the time and the place. If you don't want to be near it the park is huge so still plenty of space to find some peace and quiet in beautiful surroundings. I find people moaning about it a bit odd.

You may as well say ban all activities where people interact because some don't show respect and act with entitlement - shops, driving on the road, restaurants, cinemas, shops, walking in the countryside, dog walking, cycling, planes, holiday resorts, the school gates, work places, hospitals...

Park runners are just people and some of them will be arseholes.

Hard to imagine how hundreds of runners doesn't result in maintenance issues.

Hundreds of runners, once a week, taking part in an event that on the grand scheme lasts a relatively short time, improves health and community cohesion, boosts the local economy and is free. Christ you are miserable.

Most, possibly all , parkruns have an alternative course if one course is unusable or negatively impacted. Over the winter when it was really boggy at least 2 runs near to me cancelled for a few weeks because it wasnt suitable to have that number of runners churning up the grass/mud, on either of the proposed routes. This is done as an agreement between parkrun and the landowners (in this case I think its the council)
One pr nearby was hosted by another organisation, and they withdrew consent after a few years, possibly due to degradation of footpaths, so parkrun had to leave and find a new home.

Excellent point

Take dog walking for example. I could construct an argument if I wanted to that it should be banned from parks because some owners don’t keep their dogs under control, and don’t pick up poo. So hazardous to health and safety on 2 fronts. And what societal benefits does it bring? Without rehearsing all the arguments, I reckon it would be a much stronger one than banning parkrun.

But do I make that argument? No I don’t (even though I don’t mind telling you that I hate poor dog ownership with a passion). Because I’m not an arsehole . The most I would argue is that we need to look at tightening up enforcement around the issue, and that individual flouters should be dealt with harshly.

It’s called society.

Astonishing to see the actual OP making fun of someone for still talking about the subject of her thread less than a week later. Only someone with a view that doesn't match hers ofc, not all the others still posting.

Also quite disingenuous of those posting that an organised event should not hold any more responsibility for the behaviour of it's participants while at the event (it's only 60 minutes a week after all and less for those quick ones in the op apparently) than e.g all dog owners should hold for all other dog owners 24/7/365.

There is a lot of arguing both ends on here.