parkrun defending their position

[Funtime2]

I used to be a parkrunner and do not understand how parkrun can defend their position of allowing trans identfying males into the female category.

I read that 280 published race winners in the female category are actually men identifying as women. How is this fair to women? Some women don’t care about this but some women do, just as some men take it as a race and care about the rankings and some men don’t

The other option of course is they could stop the timing, stop recording winners and records?

AIBU to genuinely not understand why parkrun claim not to be a race when they time the runners, publish times by category, rank times and runners, and have record holders by category.

No one's even asking for them to police anything. Just to have categories based on actual sex.

No need to police anything, just as they don’t police age categories. But they don’t state that age categories are however you feel do they?

They just need to make it clear the catgories they chose to use for data purposes are accurate.

What difference would it make though? You can tick the box saying you're anything - nobody actually checks. I could say I was a man if I wanted. It's not a serious competition, most people just do it for PBs and to help with training for other stuff, or just to keep fit with mates. My son (a biological male!) comes top 5 most times he runs and he doesn't care about anything apart from PBs.

parkrun Age categories = state your age.
parkrun sex categories = state how you feel.

parkrun age categories = fair competition and data collecting
parkrun sex categories = unfairness to women and inaccurate data collecting

Not consistent is it?

No one is asking for al the categories to be policed.
They are asking for them to be fair and consistent.

Is it really too much to ask that people respond honestly to basic questions?

If people routinely lied about their age for age categories, would you just wave that away too?

280 trans identifying men have been published by parkrun as winning the women’s category.

0 wins from middle age men winning the 12 year old category.

If they want to rank and show stats showing sex their rules should require sex not identity

You could make up an age, or a name, or whatever. You're not asked for any form of ID.

I think you're making mountains out of molehills here. Nobody is taking anything from anyone - it's not a serious competition.

Why would you lie? What reason would you have? Seems an odd thing to do. I’ve never meaningfully lied about my sex on any documentation. Seems an odd thing for you to do

280 trans identifying men have been published by parkrun as winning the women’s category.

For some people it’s a laugh and not serious but i hope you can understand other people get their motivation from doing well. Men have realistic rankings women don't

It depends. If they lied when it mattered, then yes that's wrong, as there's a point to that. But in this instance, it doesn't matter. Nobody cares (except apparently people on here, who probably don't even do Park Run).

Do you do Park Run? (And remember it's important to be honest).

So a 30 year old lies about being under 18 and wins that category. That's fine, is it?

99% of the people at the parkruns I help to put on really don't care about all this. We're just out there putting on timed runs for people. The "course records" have been removed, no one "wins" anything and the walker who finished in over an hour last week is just as celebrated as the person who finished first in 16 minutes. I don't know whether either of them were recorded as men or women and am not asking! I'm also not going in and deleting people's run details because someone says to me "I don't think they're really a woman, this is unfair, delete their time". If that starts to become an expectation then I'll stop being a run director.

Plenty of female Park Runners have been speaking out against this for years.

I care and I have done loads of parkruns.

Just because I’m on mumsnet it doesn't mean I don’t exist or that my opinions are not real life.

There’s a poster on here who is a parkrun event organiser who also wants the rule to be fair

You son has the priviledge of not caring because he has the option to check his stats and knows he comes in the top 5. How about women?

Some people don't like sharing their data but still want to know what their time is.

I agree. It's just going to put people off volunteering and getting involved.

Then they can put ‘rather not say'

There are loads of runners that come up as anonymous on the data.

There is that option.

No one wins anything at parkrun. If someone emailed in and raised a concern that an individual has inaccurate registration details we'd pass that on to parkrun HQ. But people are registered at parkruns with obvious fake names and other things all the time, it's basically fine by us BECAUSE THIS ISN'T SERIOUS it's a 5km run or walk in a park for your own purposes of fitness, wellbeing, socialising, whatever. "Dr Speed" used to finish pretty quick at our event!

Anything, ANYTHING rather than having to say no to entitled men who want women's stuff

Again with the assuming on here that all women think the same way.
People, including women, are telling you they like the inclusive, non competitive atmosphere of on the day what it's like before you go home and scrutinise everyone else's score but yet, still, it's all about entitled men to some.

I get that plenty of people don't care, fine.

But when 280 'best females' are being handed to men, when are people going to take a stand? I bet the women missing out care.

What will put off volunteers?

Men having to tick a box on a form to state their biological sex? Come on!

If it's not serious, why publish times and those who place highest?

Seems like it's only 'not serious' when women want fairness for their own category

I had no idea having to adhere to the law was such a hindrance for some people. But hey I’m not the one supporting discrimination.

Then why do parkrun announce winner and records?
And rank the times?