Parkrun comments giving me the rage

[ChapmanFarm]

If I have to read one more time 'but parkrun is just meant to be fun' or 'you are only racing against yourself and your best time' I'm going to scream.

Why does that only apply to women?

If it's just a bit of fun there is absolutely no need for trans identified men to get a time or position either. They have the option to register as another gender or to just run and not register at all.

If it's all just fun and we moaning women should shut up, why do these arguments only apply one way?

No one is saying they can't run in whatever clothing/identity they like. Just that they shouldn't be recorded as women.

But somehow this is still wrong.

I thought I'd peaked long ago but this one is giving me the absolute rage.

If it is just fun of racing against yourself then park run can stop recording speeds and everyone can just time themselves

I can’t say anything to make this better @ChapmanFarm . You are right to be angry. It’s really fucking unfair.
I’m going to channel my anger into this new running club, and go to parkruns (walks, for me!) to show my support.
Parkrun need to make things fair for women, or stop publishing results so people can compare.

Totally agree.

I feel your pain. How can people be so utterly blind to it?

It's the total double standard of 'oh you silly things thinking it's competitive'.

Aren't you mean not letting Barry win when it's really just a social activity.

But also you can't possibly expect Barry just to run for fun and not pick up a women's time.

Which is it? Because it can't be both.

It’s hard to see how some can’t see it.

It’s taking far too long.

I've responded on all the Facebook threads I spot about this. It's the mix of dismissive men and inclusive women that drive me mad. Not sure who's worse

Logic is not these apologists' strong point.

Of course it's competitive. You get your time, sex, age group and a percentage showing you how you compare to other people of your sex and age group.

I've only done a couple, but I recall that you also get your place in the overall field and your place in the number of women and girls who have run.

Totally agree. I’ve got into this fight time and again on Twitter. I can’t understand why they can’t just time it, send everyone their individual times so they can monitor their own progress (as they already do) and simply not publish the results and grading.

Actually I can understand why. It’s because there’s always some dickhead inserting himself into the argument to claim that ‘it’s only a run for women’ but god forbid the idea he can’t publicly be seen to have beaten Rupert or Hugo from the run club. 🙄

This tulip unwittingly comes up with a solution to the "how will it be policed" problem by pointing out out to Sharron Davies that there is a policy that anyone found to be lying about their age has their results permanently wiped from the record.
But gender and age are completely different, and the female category is for gender ID, not sex, and it's not a race, anyway so Sharron is inventing a problem!
It is very entertaining to read the replies https://x.com/itsafrogslife/status/2094839598111134000

@mardirousse Hilarious. Luke: "I think you have just made the opposite argument to the one you think you have."

Obviously I'm not actually suggesting it but it would be amusing if somehow all the male rankings and records disappeared from the website and just wouldn't work.

We could all pop up and say: but park run is just a competition! You're taking it too seriously! Why don't you join a competitive run instead? You aren't being inclusive are you.

Is this thread about the existing thread on FWR
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5572913-reality-rules-parkrun-launch-3-october-2026

Or some thing else?

The arguments all remain the same three points and they have been these same three for years.

Parkrun really have been dishonest in the first place when they deny the competitive element. It is dishonest but people just keep repeating it because parkrun have maintained that line.

’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.

But the arguments we see generally follow these same three aspects. There is always the misrepresent that it is ‘inclusive’ when if you analyse the policy, it is not ‘inclusive’ to female runners in the outcome of the policy.

It’s winding me up too that I can’t not reply to some of it

It's the same with changing rooms and such. So unimportant that women shouldn't care, don't be silly, there will be a stall probably, why do you care about other people's genitals, NAMALT anyway, men are fine.

But so important that TIM will harm themselves if not given access and men are terrifying.

Random thought but we need some male jockeys to turn up on their steeds and insist on taking part. I mean the men won’t mind their records being taken, now will they???

18.8K views; 11 likes 😂

Its as if the only purpose for woman/female to recorded is to affirm TW as W.

The local e-bike yobs?

I agree with you. And of course it’s competitive. My son does parkrun with his running club. They’re all competing against each other. The first thing he does when the stats are up is compare his time to the rest of his club.

The female stats are distorted. The female category should be based on biological sex, so that female participation figures, rankings and performance statistics remain meaningful.

It's perfectly legal and everyone apart from a handful of gender critical people is happy with it. Set up your own fun run for gender critical people with cheek swabs or genital inspections to ensure compliance. It's not "women" as a whole, but gender critical people who are irritated.

The founder of Reality Rules Runners UK is, of course, a man. And the threats of legal action come from the ADF - the American group which helped overturn Roe v Wade. There is every chance that Rowling and ADF money will cause Parkrun to cave, of course. Nice handmaidening!

Where’s you evidence that it’s only a handful of gender critical people that object to men running in the women’s category? I have quite a diverse social group and don’t know anyone who agrees with Parkrun’s stance on this.

Do you know how few trans people actually do Parkrun? Or are any good?

Jfc, they can't even amble round a park without attracting hyperbolic nonsense like this.

The average decent sportswoman will easily outpace anyone at a parkrun, male or female. Do some research on female sporting excellence (especially at endurance events), how very few trans women could begin to compete with them, what transitioning does to the trans female body - and get some perspective.

Maybe do something useful to help women rather than obsess over a tiny minority for once.