Bring back the stats meeting with parkrun

[RunningAndSinging]

parkrun meeting with ‘bring back the stats’

This may be one sided and biased as it is written by campaigners but even so…..

I am feeling shocked to the core and can’t believe that they said all this out loud as though it was an ok position to hold. I am such an advocate for parkrun and have consistently been banging the drum about all the positives but what they said about their loyal participants - I am horrified they think like that - even Paul Sinton-Hewitt. It feels like the scales have fallen from my eyes and I am so disappointed.

I imagine I will keep going to parkrun events, keep volunteering and continue to enjoy making my own progress with my running and my parkrun stats but I don’t know if I can feel quite the same way about the organisation and its legacy now.

Perhaps I am being dramatic and over invested but it is how I feel.

Honestly I hear what they're saying about prioritising participation but I also agree that some of the events are large enough (borderline really disruptive to surrounding residents and other park users- ours is 1000+ most weeks) and secondly, I'm honestly not that convinced that there are a multitude of would-be-parkrunners who would take part if it wasn't timed (i.e. more than would drop out if it wasn't timed). It's not like everyone is also suddenly blind and it's not immediately apparent who is fast and who is slow.

On reflection, I wonder if this is a public funding thing- possibly the funding is tied to certain participation targets and currently the target demographic (unfit people who would most benefit from an incremental 5k) isn't being reached- there's obviously (and rightly) no public funding available for "encourage people who already run 100 km a week at 3:30/km run 5k more". So to keep the funding it doesnt matter if the racing snakes leave so long as the couch-potato snakes join in. A similar thing happened with Surestart- everyone is v critical about the closures but actually the impact data shows that in the majority of cases it failed to reach the funded demographic- i.e. it was ineffective in addressing what it was funded to address.

They're a global organisation and gender ID rules are more liberal in other countries, so they have to be mindful of that.

BUT they could have resolved the issue by having an open category. OK some people might have still registered in the wrong category. Maybe some people lie about their age too - I don't know, but most people don't. So I think on the whole it would have resolved things.

Personally I think even if they're not a "sport", women have a right to fair leisure activities too! Even the other way round, it does seem ridiculous that I could tell parkrun this week I want to run as a man in future (until I change my mind again) and that's all that's needed.

I'm honestly not that convinced that there are a multitude of would-be-parkrunners who would take part if it wasn't timed

Me neither. The biggest barriers are lack of childcare and the Saturday morning start. I suspect having to work on Saturdays is another one.

And just not wanting to run. Which isn't a barrier, it's a desire to do something else. Which may involve staying in bed!

My DH was telling me yesterday that the £3 million funding from Sport England is to set up 200 new events in England. I have absolutely no idea where those 200 events are going to go. I'd have thought we were close to saturation point - there are areas where there are no parkruns, but that's because the population is small in those areas. And then there are plenty of parks which are simply not suitable, although they might work for a junior parkrun. And where events are close together they often struggle for volunteers.

We need a second parkrun in our large town but they can't get a core team together, despite having a potential course. (Our town is a bit crap though).

Personally I think even if they're not a "sport", women have a right to fair leisure activities too!

I think what parkrun is considering would meet those concerns. No published results (except perhaps directly to participant) and possibly the end to it being a timed event completely.

I was wondering, if it goes to no published results table, and just direct to participant, if they will still include the age gradings? I can't think off hand of another activity where you get those, or of a website/app into which you can put your time and it gives you your grading. Anyone know if there is one?

It just feels like parkrun have taken the toys off everyone rather than deal with the child that wants to hog them.

I appreciate that parkrun are in a difficult position against a small number of men who exploit their biological advantage and the trans movement to steal women's records, and it's considered that (over used word) transphobic to call out gender based cheating. I doubt parkrun would appreciate it if I identified and registered as a 10 year old in order to participate in junior parkruns...

Logistically I don't know what the practical and fair solution is, but the way parkrun has gone down this route quietly removing stats without explanation, then their sorry, not sorry press release and now digging down with the it's our playground and you're disposable response is not ideal.

Parkrun is what it is because people buy into a free, weekly, timed run/ walk event. That's the glue that makes the social benefits happen. It's not parkcoffee or parkchat. If it's just a social, you don't need the volunteers. The current attitude at HQ is in danger of forgetting what the core of parkrun is which allowed it to become so popular.

Parkrun is brilliant because it's flexible. I don't join running clubs because I can't manage that commitment. Parkrun is a chance to push myself against the person in front or have a leisurely bimble (running or walking), I'm also a director because I want to make that community happen. One of my highlights of 2021 was finally getting back to my parkrun.

It's pretty galling to here that chasing new participants is more valued than keeping old ones happy. When I put together volunteer rosters, the A numbers bias towards older numbers (the new ones tend to be DoE). Many people register and don't attend, or come a few times and fizzle or are slow burners. I was a slow burner due to family life. Changing what works to chase growth for the sake of it is very risky.

The group that wants to "hog" - if indeed there is one, is the one that wanted to push parkrun in to using the rules for competitive sort even though it was pretty clear that parkrun HQ's stance put participation well above that (and this latest statement puts it beyond doubt).

They have got what they wanted - some were definitely saying that "if it's not competitive, why have results at all?".

But timing might survive if the other steps they are talking about do end the idea that its competitive, rather than it being about challenging yourself.

I have noticed more begging emails for volunteers (and I've done some voluntourism recently as others nearby are also begging regularly). But volunteering isn't affected by changes to how they publish/aggregate results. They do say that one of the things they want to do is give greater prominence to volunteers in the results page - we'll have to wait and see what that means in practice. I think they made a mistake when they started to sell purple tshirts for runners too - before that it was a soft nudge that volunteering was prized as a thing in itself. I would have liked to see purple remaining volunteering only, and would have added new ones for 75 and 150 (probably in hi-viz pink and tail orange)

I thought the parkrun organisers came through so cocky, like they could make parkrun a success no matter who was supporting them. Have they forgotten parkrun is NOTHING without volunteers? It only takes a little shift in culture and how volunteering feels to make hoards of people stop volunteering altogether. I stopped volunteering because of their total disregard for women - and now there is disregard for older people because of the lack of age grading! They just come over as misogynistic old men TBH!

I stopped doing it due to the ultra competitive runners yelling at you to get out of their way as they lap you, it's pretty narrow in places due to the geography so really is more for those who want to casual run than caring about seconds. The only other local one is really hilly and classified as a hard parkrun this really not suitable for the likes of me (and even more competitive I'm told). I like getting a time to a certain extent but wish it wasn't public so there's no reason for the rudeness of some

Well my protest is to stop paying into parkrun forever to subsidise their salaries. I will maybe slow down my merchandise purchases too. I don’t want parkrun to fail though and we do need a team at HQ to make it all work - it’s all a balance. I would only stop volunteering if I also stopped running because I volunteer partly so that the event can happen because I like running it. I guess they feel backed into a corner and just want the Bring Back the Stats people to stop saying anything because they were hoping this was the way out of the trans debate.

I restarted volunteering once this whole thing exploded into the open. I should really get a Save Womens Sport top to do it in.

Do itb@Elebag