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?

It's not a new thing. I used to park run pre Covid and was pushed out the way by a couple of runners from the local club. Nothing like enjoying your run and then being shoved to the side out of nowhere. Yes, they were all men who did this.

It happens once a week on a Saturday morning, starting at 9am and usually all finished by around 10am. Junior parkruns for 4-14yos are Sunday mornings and as they are shorter they are generally over and done with by 9.45am. Parks should not be no go areas because of parkrun, but even if they were, it's for a tiny fraction of the week, so pretty easily avoided.

What?

Our local park is small and park run meant other people had to exclude themselves from the park for safety. Hire a venue if you want an event.

The idea of ‘why can’t they just hire a venue’ is also laughable - a) there are clearly not many ‘venues’ big enough for a 5k loop to hire, b) the whole thing is free to participate and run by volunteers. It no doubt saves the nhs a chunk of money because there are a lot of people who have been encouraged into regular exercise by it.
Bad behavior should always be called out but that doesn’t mean park run should be made less inclusive just as a couple of rowdy teenagers don’t mean all teenagers shouldn’t be allowed in parks or the odd very loud and disruptive child mean no child should be allowed in restaurants.

They have hired it. With the local authority’s permission - they’re just not being charged for it. And that’s because the health benefits and community benefits are significant.

I suspect the angry men might start to rethink things if another, possibly much larger, man started to shout and swear at them when they act out of order, though knowing how the world works it would probably be the man telling them off who got banned and the badly behaved men would be allowed to continue.

I imagine amongst the 29% were people who disagree with the premise of the thread title, rather than they think this behaviour is acceptable.

For an hour? I don’t think this argument is valid because it’s an event organised with permission of the council

Agreed. Also, organised races involving road closures have to be approved by local councils and notified to the police and other emergency services. They're planned months and years in advance.

I wouldn’t run if i was on fire, but our local towns SM tells of dog walkers and small children being shoved aside in pursuit of a win in our local nature reserve/park… and then the parking chaos they cause. They’re not making themselves popular the last few months, which is a shame as I think everyone has rubbed along okay for a good few years.

My husband is disabled and in pain. We get his exercise, which he needs, by getting up, having breakfast with his heavy duty painkillers and going out when pain most manageable. There is no reason park runners have to have the whole path meaning other people can't walk safely. No excuse for pushing people out of the way. If runners can't behave in a civilised manner then the runs should be banned A great example of selfish behaviour.

Why should we have to avoid the park?

Spot on. I believe in South Africa people with health insurance get a reduced rate if they can prove they are doing some sort of organised activity that will benefit their health. This is one reason parkrun has done well there, as it provides an easy way of proving that.

I was with you OP but you've lost me now. It's not for you to decide where someone wants to run. Who are you to tell them they are embarrassing. You are just rude.

You’re aware of it happening though

I mean if you get your kicks from beating amateur runners and being rude to them then fair enough

If you need exclusive use of a venue hire one otherwise make sure all participants behave in a reasonable manner. If you can't ensure that then it shouldn't be allowed. It actually isn't allowed in our local park anymore. Actions have consequences.

I'd have a word with your run director and let them know what happened. They or the director of the next run can address the issue at the start and mention expected behaviours of those passing other runners and those being lapped.

People can’t have opinions?

Well we aren't anymore as they can't do it in our park anymore. When it was allowed why should we effectively be excluded from the park because of the bad behaviour of runners?

I’m curious, what were other people doing when all these men were causing chaos? Did nobody challenge them on it? Presumably the organisers stepped in and spoke to them?

The council have to tread a careful balance allowing events like this.
if they take over the park and it prevents all locals enjoying it, it can be seen as deprivation of a local asset, the more non locals that attend and the more pushed out locals become, the more that argument holds water.

It sounds as if your park was too small, which would be why it doesn't happen there any more. It would be ridiculous to ban parkrun from all parks. Ours is easily big enough to accommodate several hundred parkrunners and a great many other park users all at the same time.

Yet another man bashing opportunity. All the women and kids I know that do ParkRun are always striving for a PB.

They have not hired exclusive use of the park they have been allowed to use the park.