To think Parkrun should have an hour cut-off

[SummerAsh]

200+ participants, all but two completed in under 54 minutes… but the last two women ambled around chatting and took over 1 hour 10 minutes.

I appreciate that Parkrun should be inclusive, but that’s taking the piss, and unfair on the 20 or so volunteers who give up the first part of their Saturday mornings…. It’s hard enough getting volunteers as it is, without expecting everyone to be saintly martyrs with endless patience.

To complete in an hour requires a pace of 3.1 mph (I.e 5km = 3.1 miles)… According to Google, that’s a casual walking pace.

AIBU to think that if you can’t or won’t complete a park”run” at even a casual walking pace, then parkrun isn’t for you. I think that an hour cut off is more than accommodating enough, and an appropriate line to draw.

Otherwise, what is reasonable? Is it reasonable to accommodate a 90-year old taking 3 hours with their zimmer? If not, where the line if not an hour.

Well I certainly don’t and neither do any of my fellow volunteers!

I agree with you and I'm not the fastest runner! People can take their time if they want but if they're going to treat it as a casual walk, (which is fine) after an hour the volunteers should be able to pack up and go home. Surely that won't affect the walkers? It's a long time since I've done park run so can't really remember how it works. I do know I'd be stressing if I thought I was keeping people waiting!
Edited to say just seen there's the role of tail walker at the back. I guess that's different as they know what they're letting themselves in for!

If the timers and bar code scanners packed up after an hour then anyone taking over a hour would not get a time nor a run credit. They would stop coming and there would be a creep to faster and faster times until really no one slower than 30 minutes or even less would feel welcome at parkrun.

There is a local organisation to me that puts on races and they really do say they want to be inclusive but the vast majority of the people who enter their races are really fast club runners. I absolutely would not go near it unless I could do 5K in 25 minutes. That’s not at all because the organisers say I wouldn’t be welcome. It’s just about the other runners there. parkrun has managed to evolve into something really special where people who run a 5K at 40 minutes are just a part of things along with those who do it in 16 minutes and those who walk at the back and any pushback would ruin that I think.

When I started couch to 5 k it took me over an hour, fastest was about 45 so what part of everyone is different do you not get?

You really are insufferable and have so self awareness.

And thankfully most volunteers and participants don't use language like you did.

It's not cool, it's not edgy, I assume you're not a teenager, so kindly desist.

To answer another point, the parkwalker role isn't the same as the tailwalker and those people usually walk a bit faster than the tailwalker does. So they'd generally come in under the hour.

You don't know what they are thinking. It's like work, people (should) keep their true feelings to themselves.

But you can’t have been running! It’s impossible to run that slowly! It really is. My 82 year old arthritic mother run / walked parkrun in under 52 minutes yesterday. Running the whole way around a 5k in over an hour is impossible.

Well I either volunteer or run every week and dont think the same that so disagree there.

Dont volunteer if you aren't happy with the time it takes people, quite simple really.

Thanks, you’ve confirmed why I never kept it up as I was too embarrassed.

I'm not being edgy. Just frank, and i'll use whatever language I like, thanks.

I'll stand by the comment that the people on this thread actively discouraging people trying parkrun because they have to wait a bit longer around when volunteering are arseholes.

Many of them are friends and clubmates who I have known for years, decades even.

Sorry, I don’t buy the “I think it therefore everyone must be secretly thinking it” mindset. I generally associate it with the very worst sort of people.

Just because you can't comprehend it, doesn't mean it isn't possible.

OP, you sound extremely unpleasant. If you don’t enjoy it, and can’t volunteer with a good grace, the answer is simple - don’t do it. No-one is forcing you.

My brother took a long time to recover from a serious illness and couldn’t always walk at an average of 3mph. But taking part in ParkRun, as suggested by his doctor, has really improved his fitness and gave him something to aim for, with the company of others and the encouragement they gave spurring him on.
Thank goodness his lovely ParkRun volunteers were not like you.

Yes, he does also go for walks on his own but it’s not the same. (You could say the same about any ParkRun walker or runner; anyone could just do it on their own.)

Parkrun is publicised as being specifically for people of all levels of fitness. If someone was really just taking too long for it to be fair to the volunteers, I would expect the person in charge to gently tell them so, and warn them that the volunteers would be leaving after a certain time.

I dread to think how many people will have been deterred from attempting ParkRun because they have read this thread and are now worried that they might be too slow and the volunteers will be hating them.

Absolutely fine...but then no more public / charitable funds for park run as they are not meeting their promise to be inclusive / grant agreements.

Hoping this gets picked as a government waste example and investigated by some lovely slow journalist walkers.

Inclusive does not mean including absolutely everyone all of the time.

For example, some parkruns do not have BSL interpreters or guide runners (though they can often find one if asked in advance).

Not all courses are suitable for wheelchairs. Do you think they should be banned, too?

Most venues allow (pet) dogs, which is inclusive for some people but not for others (obviously all have to permit guide dogs).

Hmmm - why not 55 minutes? Why not 1hr 5? If it’s inclusive, it’s inclusive, a deadline makes no sense. Park run has been an amazing initiative that should be applauded. What you have suggested would totally undermine it.

I used to walk it, I can't run as have knee issues. Took about 55-60 mins, and not being able to scan would make a difference as I would not get my vitality points.

I have done PR twice. I run it in about 38 mins at 60+ with fibromyalgia. I saw cheats. I saw people behaving as if it was the Olympics and looking down their noses. Then the online community is awful.
I tried it again. I got yelled at to run through mud when that would be very difficult for me. I walked off the course and would never return. And people like you reinforce that.

Running use a different movement though than running. Unless you are trying to not move anywhere, I.e. running on the spot you’ll automatically move faster than walking. You’d really struggle to run 5k in more than an hour, in the same way that you’d really struggle to cycle at walking pace.

What a horrible OP. I’ve sometimes really struggled with fitness and I’ve family with hidden disabilities so you wouldn’t know they are “infirm” (OPs word). I always thought PR was supposed to be an inclusive relaxed space. This thread will put people off but I’m hoping they can ignore the OP and still attend if they enjoy it.

it’s not entitled at all to want to walk it. It literally says it on the website. It’s about being out in fresh air and getting some exercise.

I feel quite sad that the volunteers would think this way. They need to find nicer ones imo.

@madnessitellyou You’d be very welcome at my local Parkrun! We love a slow runner or walker, you’re giving us extra time to natter before we have to go home!

Oh this attitude does my head in. I’ve done a Parkrun in 21 minutes, and the same Parkrun in 1hr 5 minutes after I’d had a c section and 2 cancer surgeries in the space of 5 months. I’m proud of both. I’ve also done one with my 4 year old, which we finished with an elderly woman who was walking with a stick, while the park clapped and cheered. My daughter still talks about that now, 6 months on. Thankfully no one at my Parkrun has your attitude. It’s not a race, if you want a race go pay money and enter one.

I’m not sure how any of those examples are relevant here…I don’t think you understand what inclusive means.

Meanwhile, I simply said that if the OPs vision is Park Run then they should relinquish charitable and public funds as that is not a bare minimum inclusive model.

You're right - running is a different movement to walking, it's not a speed. As you say, you can run on the spot. It's entirely possible to run at a very slow speed.

The whole point is it’s for everyone, no? If you put an hour limit on it, you exclude very ill, elderly etc?