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.

How can you prove that?

We have done the research.

It isn’t fair to women (females).

Well, theres the guy who holds the women’s record that has never been beaten…. I mean, he’s in jail for attempted murder but he still holds it. So what’s your point? If it’s no big deal and only a tiny minority, why should they not just suck it up and run in the correct category for their sex?

Why are the TRA obsessed with genital inspections? Is it some weird fantasy scenario or just living in hope? You do know cheek swabs exist right? Have you never seen CSI?

Trust me, bro

@TransParentlyAnnoyed

Yes Mara Yamauchi, a former marathon runner, has been collating and has found 20 women's course records held by trans woman.

And many more who have been ranking first, often on repeat races.

Put yourself in the shoes of someone holding a women's record and then losing it to a man who decides to transition and move to the women's race. That's not okay is it? Or repeatedly ranking second when you should be first.

Of course there may be more we don't know about but it's definitely happening.

Btw it's exceptionally easy to add a woman's category defined as sex at birth to their IT system you could opt in for. They even have an age system to compare ages so you put in your date of birth but not sex.

Not everyone even registers and ranks at all, it's not compulsory for trans woman to rank first in a woman's category - it's a choice. I don't personally want my name and time public, but I support the women who do and want a fair system for us all.

From IPSOS Pride Report 2026:

Q. To what extent do you support or oppose the following: Transgender athletes competing based on the gender they identify with rather than the sex they were assigned at birth

Great Britain: 15% support 62% oppose

In fact, out of 23 global countries only one (Thailand) has more support than opposition.
Now 'athletes' is not the same as Parkrunners, nevertheless the very low support suggests that sentiment favours fair sporting endeavour for women.

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2026-07/ipsos-lgbt-plus-pride-surey-report-2026.pdf

Go Mara!

Any decent sports woman will beat a man, but it's also just a bit of fun for everyone.

As people keep pointing out, you can see the double standards from space.

It's pathetic.

You can do park run without registering at all if you don't want a time. You can run parkrun in whatever clothing you wish.

Do can you explain the need to me for trans identified males to register as women order to take part?

I believe there is a male athlete who has accumulated tens of course records for the female category across the world.

Every single week, someone collates the number of English first runners in the female section that are male. … or is this also where we see the ‘just a few’ flawed argument again. As in, it is only a few each week taking first finisher places of female athletes, what does it matter….

@Datun It is not true. As Mara says "don't have to be a very good male athlete to break female records,' 'All that's required of a man is to be reasonably good.'

If it's not a competition - no weekly rankings and records.

If it is a competition - have a fair women's ranking system.

Not complicated. Don't hand women's running records to men and say "it's just fun." That's a horrible, dismissive attitude.

It might not be the Olympics sure. But the women who had or should have the record worked hard and are proud of their achievement, as they should be.

Even if you don't care personally, stand up for fairness to other women and stop being such a handmaiden for selfish men.

I see we've gone from men cheating women out of places in sports ratings to the ADF, Roe vs Wade with the predictable wibble about JKR 😂😂

The hyperbole is never ending when it comes to men demanding stuff from women.

You must be very new here if you believe Datun is a handmaiden!

Shes pointing out the double standards of the TRAs.

A brief google:

Men's Record: Nick Griggs ran 13:44 at Victoria Park, Belfast, in November 2024, breaking the previous record of 13:45 set by Andy Butchart in Edinburgh.
Women's Record: Ciara Mageean holds the fastest women's parkrun time worldwide, also clocked at Victoria Park, Belfast, with a time of 15 minutes and 13 seconds.
Other Sub-16 Performers: Only a few elite runners have dipped under 16 minutes globally, such as British distance star Innes FitzGerald (who ran 15:27 in January 2026), Melissa Courtney-Bryant (15:31), Charlotte Arter, Hayley Carruthers, and a few others over the years.

As of recent parkrun data tracking, at least 142 men have broken the 15-minute barrier globally, meaning significantly more than that have run faster than 15:13 (which is the women's global best record set by Ciara Mageean).

While official global, all-time figures for exact time thresholds are no longer actively published by parkrun HQ, historical archive analysis shows that approximately 15,000 to 20,000 men have ever run a parkrun faster than 16 minutes (sub-16) globally.

So no, "The average decent sportswoman will easily outpace anyone at a parkrun, male or female" is a wild exaggeration of the kind I would expect from someone who doesn't run.

Apologies @Datun ! I am not new but I drop in and out under a couple of usernames.

No, I don’t know and I don’t care. I just care if
MEN have their times recorded as though they were WOMEN.

I didnt know park run was both just an amble around a park and an endurance race where only elite women athlete have a chance of finishing.

There was a post on a local BBC news Facebook page, actually about people pushing and shoving at parkrun and a poster mentioned that there were no women's records. A whole heap of confusion ensued and I tried to explain, as neutrally as I could, what she meant. Within minutes I was accused of being a transphobe, by someone who had clearly never participated in a parkrun in their life.

On a personal level I don't care as I'm never breaking any parkrun records. Although I am sometimes first lady, and I'd feel a bit aggrieved if a biological man pinched my position. But I do care on behalf of the sub-elite young women and masters who participate in parkrun. Parkrun is not currently inclusive of those women and it should be.

I think you'll find Parkrun is whatever men / transactivists wish it to be? As long as it meets their demands?

Someone has pulled together a bingo card for parkrun

I have had to stop looking at the comments on FB.
A trans woman has held our local park-run (female) record for years. Yes, it will be beaten one day, but I’ve never personally met any female runner who could beat it (and I’m lucky enough to know some bloody good runners).

Of course it’s competitive for many. Just as it’s not competitive for others.

As usual, the compromise has to come from women. I’m sick to death of it.

TransParentlyAnnoyed
Do you know how few trans people .....

Is this a record that needs to be changed? On the basis that very few people cheat, nobody ought to object to people cheating, seems a flawed argument to me.

Yes, we all know there are vanishingly few post operative trans people, who are so important that the entirety of society and its language must be changed to suit them. And your point is?

I've only done Parkrun twice. I'm in the 65-69 women's category. After each run, we get a percentage score that shows us how we compare to other women the same age group, performance wise. If I can recall correctly, if you're above 40%, then you're doing better than the average. (No, I don't know how it's all worked out.)

I'm trying to improve my fitness. I started from a veeeeeery low baseline. At the moment, I'm hitting just above 38%. I'm using the percentage grade to gauge how well I'm doing - the times alone aren't quite enough, particularly since all the courses are different, even if they're all 5km.

If it turns out that there are men running in the women's category for my age group, then that's going to skew the information that I'm using.

I find it amusing to see how absolutely incandescent with rage he is, and barely keeping a lid on it with comments like these, which you KNOW were typed in overt fury.

I really want someone to point out how much the 199 must be bugging him.

Graham Holland 小光頭 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇬🇧 🇹🇼 @itsafrogslife
377 parkruns at 199 venues in 11 countries, plus 338 volunteer credits at 60 locations. Then there's my 7 years as an RD. What's your definition of a newbie?