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.

lol! Sorry yes, it is of course couch!

Sensible parkruns send most marshalls home at the 1hr mark and just leave the tail walkers and one person to time/collection token

Exactly.

In the middle of winter if it’s freezing and/or pissing down with rain then I think it would be nice if the person who knows they won’t finish under an hour gives it a miss that week. Thats my personal opinion and I’ve never actually said it loud to anyone at parkrun.

I do 1 volunteer for every 2 runs.
I’ve tail walked a few times and been anywhere between 50-65 minutes and have no issues.

Tail walking with a slow person is fine as you’re still moving. Less pleasant for the other volunteers when it’s cold. In summer I don’t mind how long it takes.

The longest parkrun I’ve done took 90 minutes and was a very special one as we were walking with a beloved park runner who wanted to finish her 100th parkrun before giving in to the cancer that sadly took her life a couple of months later.

For 16 minutes, genuinely community minded volunteers won't mind. It might be a big deal for some participants to walk that distance at any pace.

I don't think this is the voluntary role for you, or the others who want it over in an hour, tbh.

Volunteer attitude matters enormously, I think Park Run would be horrified by this thread

Do they get public funds? If yes, do you think they describe serving only elite athletes?

Taking an hour - which I have no issue with - ’is a casually paced walk

Maybe it is. For you.

It’s simple. In your head you plan for it to be 30mins/40mins or whatever longer than “it should be”. Then you won’t get stressed by it and if it finishes “on time” it’s a bonus for you, you leave early.

I'm a park run volunteer. I'm quite happy to stay while someone finishes after an hour. I'll be wearing warmer clothes next time though, it's gone from mild to really cold since I last volunteered and I was freezing this morning.

I am a slow walker so that's why I volunteer rather than run.

Wow, this is an awful attitude. The whole point of parkrun is it is inclusive.

Not sure if it's been posted, but here's the Ramblers walking group website: https://www.ramblers.org.uk/

I've been a member for years. Great organisation. My latest programme has walks of 4.5 km. Not many, compared to the other walks. 17.7 km anyone?

Attitudes like this are what gives the lie to "everyone is welcome" at Park Run. I did Park Run once, as a Nordic walker. I wore tech to make sure we stayed above 5km per hour, and we took 1 hour 10 minutes. My data showed me had actually done 6km not 5km. My heart rate data showed an average of 85% for that time period. Yet the extra ten minutes is enough for people to say "You don't belong here." Nice to have it confirmed.

If I'm tailwalker, I just turn up for the warmup and do the cleanup afterwards. I don't want to be standing round for an hour before walking. If I'm run director, I'm there for the whole time. It really depends but as I said we have a full rota each week so there's never an issue if someone can only give an hour. I always take the furthest point on course as marshall, so I'd get there earlier to get to it. I leave it taking my flag when the tailwalker passes. Once I'm back, I'm technically done. Maybe we are unusually organised. A lovely lady who lives right next door to the park gave us a key and shed in her garden to store all the gear so it takes ten minutes to put away.

My run club never volunteers anymore because the time it took started to get out of hand since they started encouraging everyone to do it regardless of ability /time taken

I think you are entirely missing the point of parkrun. It doesn't belong just to people who can run fast. Who already have community in their running club.

YABU

If they can accommodate Barry pretending he’s a woman, they can accommodate those who move slightly slower than others.

That wasn’t the original point of parkrun. It was set up by runners, for runners to improve their speed. Average finishing time was originally 20 mins. It’s only as it became a large scale corporate entity that they changed it and have become this weird hybrid where they run it as a race yet also say they are inclusive, and that sex categories and times are irrelevant as they aren’t a race, yet still have a measured course, individual timed runs and record by sex. Hence all the tensions and arguments. The y are trying to be too many things at once.

Of course somebody finishes last!

The tailwalker finishes last.

Beat me to it.

I disagree with you and Google about 3.1 miles an hour being a ‘casual walking pace’
Average walking paces vary greatly by age and sex.
I did an internet search and a site called Medical News Today suggests that 3 miles an hour is an average pace for under 30 YO’s.
People are allowed to walk on Parkruns and they are meant to be inclusive - not to rule out over 50% of the population.
If shorter times are important to you then maybe you should seek a more competitive pastime.

My brilliant mum started C25k this spring. She jogged her first full 5k at a parkrun this September, the day before her 80th birthday.

She had been nervous of exercising alone, and at her age doesn't have many potential running buddies in her friend group! She would never have entertained going to parkrun if there was a cut off time.

It's wonderfully inclusive and I'm so grateful to the volunteers who never make any of the runners walkers, injured, disabled, elderly, overweight or just plain slow people, feel like they aren't good enough to be there!

I think you are out of kilter with the ethos of ParkRun and it's inclusivity agenda. The charity specifically states it's a walk or run distance.

A fair number of disabled people or morbidly obese persons or very elderly would struggle to walk some of the course in an hour, especially ones with inclines, and even hills, and not all disabilities are visible in any case.. Allowing an extra 15 mins for some people is not unreasonable.

If you are the volunteer 'tail walker' then maybe swap your role if you need to get away on the dot of one hour.

I run but I’ve never done Park Run. If it’s inclusive, and it’s not a race, and no one cares how long anyone takes, why does it need to be timed at all? Why have marshalls clocking people in and out? Why not just all turn up at the same place and run the same route and then go home?

Spot on.

A job is a bloody job! Voluntary or not! You need people doing jobs that are actually wanting to do the job with the required attitude, voluntary or not!