Reality Rules Parkrun Launch 3 October 2026

[IwantToRetire]

Today was another Parkrun Saturday and like every weekend the achievements by women was demoted by men running in the female category.

We are hoping to change this! In only a few weeks time, we will debut Reality Rules Runners UK at Parkrun. We hope that many hundreds (hopefully thousands) of you will join us to send a clear and strong statement to Parkrun about the huge support there is for fairness and sex-based categories at their events.

All sports events are responsible for putting on fair events. This includes free, volunteer run, community events like Parkrun.

So please tell people about Reality Rules Runners UK, as we are hoping to attract lots more supporters before our debut at Parkrun on 3 October.

Thank you! 🙏

https://realityrulesrunnersuk.substack.com/p/another-parkrun-down-only-a-few-weeks

Came across this by chance, so dont know more than this!

They are also on X for anyone on X https://x.com/RRRunnersUK

What on earth do you think "vitriol" means?!?

The rules that prevent sex discrimination are the law, not protected beliefs.

It isn't lawful to intentionally provide an inferior service to women.

Park Run is a charity, but it also relies on public funding and the use of publicly funded spaces.

If ParkRun is publishing women's times and women's records then those times and records, by law, must relate to biological women only. If the times and records include those to transwomen then ParkRun is not complying with the law @Mouldemort

The reality is the statistics are being provided for men but not for women however you wish to dice or slice it. That is a very arguable case of indirect sex discrimination. It is the law and notthing to do with protected beliefs. Either stop providing any data or allow the aggregation of data by sex. Simple no?

As a regular parkrun Volunteer all I can say that I would give up volunteering rather than have to "police" gender. I had a friend at University who was frequently called Sir, Im not going to judge by appearance

They are that's what the OP's about. 😂
Has your self righteousness made you blind or did you just skip to ranting. 🤯

If men stop claiming they're women and running in the wrong sex category you wouldn't have to.

No one is asking or expecting you to do anything. We just want to record the category of female. Yes people can lie if they want and if it becomes apparent that a bloke claiming to be a woman is recording the fastest times then a quiet word can be had. No dramas. It's only a bit of fun after all.

Its a private limited company that makes a profit.

First of all in case you aren't aware this is a FEMINIST forum.

ie it is about what women are saying, doing organising about and having somewhere to share their concerns.

I dont know anything about park run or indeed some of the groups I share posts about.

But because they are women and have a concern, I share it on FWR because there maybe others who share that concern or interest and would like to know about it.

I think you need to consider whether a feminist forum is something that meets with your attitudes.

If you think a group of women are spreading vitriol because they express an opinion or have a priority you dont, then being on a feminist forum will continue to be an alienating experience.

Maybe you could ask MNHQ to set up a forum only for those who think exactly like you.

Well this is very pro-active.

I hope you will be keeping us all up to date with your times!

Maybe this is their primary therapy. Everyone they actually know is just fed up listening to them, so this is their only outlet.

Certainly keeping MNHQ busy.

But the worst part, as happened on another thread, is where someone who isn't aware of their track records is unexpectedly the target of their discontent.

No, they are parasitising park run.

And no, the law doesn’t say they have to list times by “biological sex.”

I haven't done park run since a man in a tutu put me down from 10th in my age category to 11th. I had worked up to 10th position and to see some bloke come in above me was truly disheartening. It's not just about the the top places. It affects all the other women who've been displaced by a selfish man.

No, they are parasitising park run.

Similar to the way some men are parasitising the female category then.

Just to summarise as from only have caught up on this thread a few hours ago, it seems many comments have been made without bothering to read the OP and links provided.

A new group has been formed called Reality Rules Runners UK - again in the OP are links to information about them

On saturday they put out a press release to get news coverage about the launch of the campaign this coming saturday.

Not in the press release but all over FWR the use of the word women as a category means legally a biological female.

Whether it is a private company or some other type of organisation they should obey the law.

And in this instance there seems to be no reason why when registering, if part of the point to see best times in each category those who want to register as their biological sex can do so. And from that times for biological males and also for biological females can recorded and the fastest time by a biological male and by a biological females can be make known. Those who who do not want to register by their biological sex can register without and become part of a group that is gender neutral. Or I suppose by gender identity.

What is the problem with that?

But in case it needs to be said again someone's gender identity is not the same as someone's biological sex.

I do find it funny this gets defended as "inclusive". Here's the Google definition:

Inclusivity - the practice or policy of including all types of people fairly and equally, making sure no one is left out based on their race, gender, age, religion, ability, or background.

It's not treating all types of people fairly or equally. It's fundamentally unfair to women.

You also can't be inclusive and tell people they should leave. You aren't trying to include all people, you just want the ones who agree with you.

I don't know about the legality, I hope that ends up in the courts and we will find out.

Puzzled by the use of the word parasitising, they're starting their own organisation, they might be copying a winning formula, but that's how the business world works. You said yourself that Parkrun is a business, and as such is subject to the same law's as every other business. If they're advertising a woman's category, then only women are allowed into it, it's false and misleading advertising otherwise.

The arguments all remain the same as they have been for years.

’it is not a competition’

It is if there is any ranking of results and any collecting and/or publishing of ‘records’. The behaviour makes a lie of that declaration.

”it cannot be policed”

(often with threats of withdrawing) Very little in life can be 100% ‘policed’. Does that mean we abandon all laws, regulations and policies? The very first step is to set out a clear policy and clear expectations. Issue resolution doesn’t have to be the responsibility of every volunteer. Plus, it can be done retrospectively such as disqualification of entries if evidence is provided to negate the entry.

‘it is not the Olympics”

Firstly, grassroots sport athletes should expect fair sport as much as can be possibly provided. If that was the case, why does a passport or birth certificate need to be provided when registering a child at football?

Secondly, people forget that grassroots sports feed athletes up to the elite levels. Everyone starts somewhere. People who only do school sports can end up at the Olympics. So this type of argument of ‘it is just grassroots’ is immediately dismissible as not barely credible. That statement says more about that person’s usage of the sport. They are making a value statement only relative to their own situation.

Was he called sir cos he was a bloke?

It is set up as a charity and as a company limited by guarantee, so it has no shareholders and no way to distribute profit.

absolutely!

I’ve seen loads of Facebook comments saying “parkrun is just for fun, the only race is against yourself.” This really grinds my gears. If it was just for fun, why have categories and publish results? And it’s not a race against yourself if you’re trying to go up in the categories.

Like I previously said, it’s another area of society where men feel like they can encroach on women’s rights in order to feel “validated.” It’s wrong, and I’m sick of being “used” in such a way.

So.what happens to all the profit?

Something that puzzles me is that if they are concerned about privacy presumably they could stop sharing the individual results of each runner.

(This would also make it more difficult for people to claim that anyone was in the wrong category)

However this seems to be important to people.