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.

Yes. And if you’re going a parkrun you walk briskly, obviously! If the majority of people at my local parkrun thought I was there to Marshall their casual stroll I’d stop volunteering. Luckily for us piss takers are rare!

Are you the volunteer left waiting? I really don’t think your views are in the spirit of park run, it’s for everyone. People who are unwell or on really challenging fitness journeys can take part and may be slower. YABU

This. I've done the tail walking a couple of times because I'm pretty slow.
As pp says, it's for everyone, particularly people who want to join in and improve on an activity that they're not great at without feeling embarrassed or a failure.
Ours takes way over and hour and a half - sometimes longer. Nobody minds waiting. That's why they volunteer. That's how it works round these parts anyway.

No it shouldn’t have a 60 minute cut off. That’s just not what parkrun is about. Getting people active who might not otherwise be active is a big part of it. If you feel impatient then don’t volunteer at the funnel, tail walk or be the last marshal. My home parkrun has some hills and the tail walker regularly takes over an hour. The volunteers (including me) don’t pack anything away until they finish and give them the same experience as everyone else.

I can’t believe some of the comments on here from volunteers. I’m a regular volunteer at Parkrun as I can’t run at the moment and I love the tail walking slot as I’ve met some lovely people who have really benefited from being able to join in an event rather than just go for a walk on their own. The pricks on here saying they won’t volunteer anymore because of the slow people need to take a long hard look at themselves. You are the bloody problem and why so many people feel to frightened to attempt to exercise in public. I’m a slow runner when I can run (35 mins is a good PR time for me) and the people who really fucked me off were the patronising men who on finishing would run the opposite way round the course being “encouraging” and the irritating runners bellowing at tearful children who’ d been forced to do it. I’d rather they were banned than slow walkers.

I agree with you OP. There are many, many, many walking groups. People who want a walk and chat should join those.

Parkrun is for people who want to run. Runners of all abilities, but runners. This boundary-less ‘inclusive’ bollocks has to stop. Saying a run is inclusive of walkers is just deranged. It’s reasonable for things to have boundaries related to the definition of what they are. Some running events have had to start stating that you aren’t allowed to walk the course because unfit, entitled people have started walking running races FFS.

It’s really bloody rude and entitled to keep all those volunteers waiting, in all weathers.

Just pick an activity for what you want to do. If you want a walk, join a walking group - there are literally loads and loads of them. If you want to run, join a running group. If you want to swim, join a swimming group. It’s not difficult.

The whole point of parkrun was for an elite training group - the likes of Sonia o’Sullivan - to work on bettering their 5k times around bushy park. It’s not some bloody community picnic.

It’s not just the tail walker who has to dawdle… The timekeepers and other Marshalls have to remain too. It’s call parkrun, not parkamble!

Plenty of people end up walking in our local parkrun. The volunteers know what they're volunteering for. Some of my family volunteer. They are reasonable runners themselves. They don't mind.

People volunteer for all sorts of reasons.

Volunteering as an athletics official is very time consuming and is hard work. A track event can last six hours and often overrun. From that perspective volunteering at parkrun is easier, even if people take 90 minutes to finish!

if you’re ill or so incredibly unfit you can’t manage to walk at a casual pace, why would you go and waste people’s time on a Saturday morning. It’s incredibly entitled. Just go for a walk ffs!

Are parkruns different around the country I wonder? Ours is aimed at including anyone who wants to join in. That is, in fact, the point. You see people with pushchairs, the elderly and newcomers to running. The faster runners just take off and soon get past those slower. If you want to join a running club, join a running club. Parkrun is for everyone.

This has to be a windup surely? I don’t know anyone volunteering in ParkRun who would think this.

Coach to 5k. No one is going to learn to run by walking. You’d be better off using something like coach to 5k to build up your stamina and fitness

Or Parkrun which specifies it’s inclusive, has no time limits and welcomes
walkers!

No, people (especially women) are scared to exercise in public because they get heckled and sometimes worse!

parkrun is a perfect venue for people to do a timed run or walk with purpose with support and no heckling.

But people who want to go for a (slow) walk can do it anywhere.

I am pretty sure it’s couch!
I mean you can’t do much running on a coach

It’s advertised as complete at your own pace …what a horrid ableist attitude OP

I can guarantee you that most volunteers feel the same as me. You’re right, it’s the elephant in the room

I have family who are runners who don't feel the same as you. They see it as community based volunteering. If they didn't have the spare time to do it, they wouldn't do it.

@TinyGingerCat

'I’m a slow runner when I can run (35 mins is a good PR time for me) and the people who really fucked me off were the patronising men who on finishing would run the opposite way round the course being “encouraging”'

Crikey. Really? (As Dante said, there's a special circle of hell reserved for peeps like that.) Although presumably fast women did it too? 😊

Not a wind-up at all. Lots of people think it, that's why parkrun struggles to get volunteers for some venues and some roles. (Not everywhere, some parkruns are really well catered for).

I do the volunteer roles where I know I won't have to hang around for ages at the end.

I think Fountains Abbey parkrun used to have a one hour cut-off because they wanted to open the site to the public from 10am. Not sure if it does now, though.

Amen.

parkrun was set up by runners for runners. ALL the early parkruns were set up by running clubs, entirely voluntarily. And were - and remain - very welcoming to anyone looking to improve their fitness, irrespective of starting point.

I ask again. If you’re just out for a stroll and a chat, why must you do it in the parkrun course? If the only answer is “because you can” and you know that in doing that you are taking up collectively hours of other people’s time then yes, that’s entitlement.

😀

Even someone on a zimmer who takes 3 hours?

You know that wouldn't happen. Unless it was Captain Tom.

oh stop pretending that people have a choice of going to parkrun once a week or sitting at home alone for the rest of their life. There are loads and loads of community projects that have walking groups. It’s a huge thing. These are smaller in number and actually better for getting out and chatting to people. And on top of that there are walking groups on meetup, organized established groups like ramblers for nature walkers etc. There are many, many, many walking groups. They’ve absolutely exploded in number.

But it isn't a race

No in my experience it's mostly men. We have a big hill near the finish of our parkrun and some men (only men) think it's helpful after they have finished to run up and down it encouraging people. On one memorable occasion a 70 year old lady did tell them to fuck off and be patronizing somewhere else.

Exactly. I volunteer (for something totally different). It’s great. I love doing it but if it overruns it’s really annoying. I work full time, my free time is a precious commodity.