Parkrun was fine for years and then the DEI nonsense approach to everything has corrupted it. With these guys saying they will gladly stop doing their articles. What about those that actually enjoyed reading them?
The irony of this is that we will see from the participation data how this affects them longer term. Perhaps they should hide that too, so they don't get upset looking at it if the numbers go down.
The participation numbers will continue to increase. This will infuriate the GC lunatics and the some parts of the rightwing press, but the benefit that parkrun brings to the health & wellbeing of communities will not be stopped.
If you have a constant burning hunger to prove your financial or athletic superiority over others as Twister Times and many other insecure LRC commenters seem to, there are other arenas to do that.
ok, whatever, you just insult me which means you've got little to discuss of value. I'm assuming you are taking a contradictory position just to annoy. Why would I want parkrun to stop, I agree its good. It was just better before all of this happened. Everyone got along fine.
Parkrun was fine for years and then the DEI nonsense approach to everything has corrupted it. With these guys saying they will gladly stop doing their articles. What about those that actually enjoyed reading them?
The irony of this is that we will see from the participation data how this affects them longer term. Perhaps they should hide that too, so they don't get upset looking at it if the numbers go down.
The participation numbers will continue to increase. This will infuriate the GC lunatics and the some parts of the rightwing press, but the benefit that parkrun brings to the health & wellbeing of communities will not be stopped.
If you have a constant burning hunger to prove your financial or athletic superiority over others as Twister Times and many other insecure LRC commenters seem to, there are other arenas to do that.
I was, until this point, a huge supporter and encouraged everyone to try it.
Parkrun statements seem to imply that the word 'charitable' de facto means it is outside any political angle. Debatable surely. 'Community' (now usually pronounced without the 't', I think to show that the speaker is indeed rooted within the community) is now close to meaningless it has been so diluted with overuse. I think it sort of means one isn't a peer of the realm, but not much else.
So Mara's T shirt had 3 words 'save women's sport' and that's it? Hardly the most inflammatory statement and whilst I realise there is a backstory to this, the principle of opposing the T shirt statement is not really supported by anyone, is it?
Parkrun statements seem to imply that the word 'charitable' de facto means it is outside any political angle. Debatable surely. 'Community' (now usually pronounced without the 't', I think to show that the speaker is indeed rooted within the community) is now close to meaningless it has been so diluted with overuse. I think it sort of means one isn't a peer of the realm, but not much else.
So Mara's T shirt had 3 words 'save women's sport' and that's it? Hardly the most inflammatory statement and whilst I realise there is a backstory to this, the principle of opposing the T shirt statement is not really supported by anyone, is it?
Personally I don’t care what she wears. But the statement is political, and therefore against parkrun rules, and is enough to explain to any sane person why she wasn’t included in the event’s pics.
Care to explain how that works? Aren't you stalking any woman who expresses an opinion?
Nope I'm just saying everyone is able to express opinion.
But defending angry people protesting at a charity event, hounding people running a community running event because they don't like the direction a charity is going in?
That's not expressing an opinion but middle class bigots
So why does Park Run support gay pride, LBBTQIA, themed events promoting these, and suspended events in Russia to support Ukraine? Good causes, but undoubtedly political in nature. And runners are sponsored all the time during park run. I don't see anyone demanding the removal of photographs of them.
Its an anti-women stance, whatever way you look at it. Mara is right to highlight it but its not just Mara (though for some reason a lot of shrews on here would like the world to believe it is) many, if not most of us women runners are against having our places stolen by male-to-female trans athletes.
This isn't going to go away. In 10 years time, we will all be looking back and saying "how did we ever allow that to happen" and the politically correct version will be that women were being discriminated against. Sometimes, you have to not be afraid to be a tall poppy.
Many runners run with dogs. Maybe the owners should register their dogs. It would be nice to see some dogs coming in with good times, and winning some races.
She owns no park run records even if they existed which they don't.
She can't find anywhere where it's classed as a race and the organisers explicitly say it's not.
Tells everyone she earns lots of money but is emotional to the point of needing sectioning.
She wants to believe somehow people are coming to take a record when in reality no record exists and when people argued the charity just said sod it and removed them.
So why does Park Run support gay pride, LBBTQIA, themed events promoting these, and suspended events in Russia to support Ukraine? Good causes, but undoubtedly political in nature. And runners are sponsored all the time during park run. I don't see anyone demanding the removal of photographs of them.
Its an anti-women stance, whatever way you look at it. Mara is right to highlight it but its not just Mara (though for some reason a lot of shrews on here would like the world to believe it is) many, if not most of us women runners are against having our places stolen by male-to-female trans athletes.
This isn't going to go away. In 10 years time, we will all be looking back and saying "how did we ever allow that to happen" and the politically correct version will be that women were being discriminated against. Sometimes, you have to not be afraid to be a tall poppy.
I think suspending events in Russia is totally different to not showing pics of Mara, when she was only at the event for one political purpose. And, as I said, this is not parkrun’s issue to solve, as it’s not a race (I know you think it is a race, but if parkrun themselves say it’s not a race, I’ll believe them because, you know, it’s their organisation and their event). That is what Mara has failed to grasp with the parkrun issue. It’s not in parkrun’s power to totally resolve this.
FWIW I felt sorry that ordinary Russians had their parkruns stopped. But I could understand parkrun’s stance, and of course parkrun wasn’t the only organisation to stop operations in Russia.
Also, FWIW, I agree with what Mara is saying about protecting women’s sport, but a) I do not agree in the way she said it, or inflammatory examples she was using and b) I do not agree in her choice of organisation she went for because, as I said, parkrun is not a race, it’s a fun run.
Trans stuff aside it's just a bit sad we lose something as simple as this to appease about 8 people.
End of the day parkrun isn't a pro sport body it's run by volunteers. They can be responsible for gender checking everyone.
The core of the volunteers, at most Parkruns come from the local running clubs. Members of local running clubs also form a large backbone of the runners on a Saturday morning. Sometimes, they may be along for an easy jog, other times for a training run or TT.
Running club members can run/do their own thing on a Saturday morning, Parkrun or no Parkrun. Push this narrative of, it's not a race, it's not a sport, it's okay for a man to run as a women, why do you need to compare your effort against someone else, too much, and the running clubs will lose interest in the event.
I do not agree in her choice of organisation she went for because, as I said, parkrun is not a race, it’s a fun run.
Half the entrants into the London Marathon see it as a fun run. They are not racing it in any true sense, they are simply getting round the course. They are still interested in their placing, and the females shouldn't expect to be placed behind men identifying as females.
I do not agree in her choice of organisation she went for because, as I said, parkrun is not a race, it’s a fun run.
Half the entrants into the London Marathon see it as a fun run. They are not racing it in any true sense, they are simply getting round the course. They are still interested in their placing, and the females shouldn't expect to be placed behind men identifying as females.
London Marathon is a race. It has prizes and a podium.
You might think that you've "won" parkrun one day, but you haven't won anything. You will have overtaken runners who are much fitter and faster than you who are just out for an easy jog with their mates. You didn't "beat" them, because they weren't racing.
Races are held under race conditions - either everyone agrees it's a race at the start, or the placing is nonsensical. Only individual times will have value.
I've just realised I've been railroaded into a political debate I'm not getting into at all. Last time I did a parkrun I got beaten by a 12 year old. I have no idea if they were male or female. Does that make me male or female?
Not unless you are affected by the issue. Did the 12 year old finish in the top 3 in their category? They would be affected.
Imagine if that was a 12 year old girl who had got a top 3 result (not unheard of in parkrun) but wasn't listed as 3rd female because a fiftysomething woman born as a man, who had lived most of their life as a man, had taken her place. Thats the type of issue we are talking about. How off putting for that 12 year old girl if they had to be told that the big bloke that looked like a man was actually in the same category as them, and they wouldn't be listed in the results because of it.
Do take time to consider how proud and brave that fiftysomething former man is though!
She owns no park run records even if they existed which they don't.
She can't find anywhere where it's classed as a race and the organisers explicitly say it's not.
Tells everyone she earns lots of money but is emotional to the point of needing sectioning.
She wants to believe somehow people are coming to take a record when in reality no record exists and when people argued the charity just said sod it and removed them.
Seriously deranged.
Still waiting on which Parkrun you were at last weekend.
Half the entrants into the London Marathon see it as a fun run. They are not racing it in any true sense, they are simply getting round the course. They are still interested in their placing, and the females shouldn't expect to be placed behind men identifying as females.
London Marathon is a race. It has prizes and a podium.
This gets back to the idea that the race bit is as much in people's heads, attitudes and approach as in the event description. London has a pro elite race which has a separate set of results and structure. It also incorporates the national marathon individual and team champs, run under NGB rules and - Note - the competition details of this comp are managed by the NGB and sorted outside London Marathon. The non elite field, incl the NGB champs, is called and listed in results as 'Mass Start' and whilst I'm not sure on this final point I believe I've heard the leading times referred to as 'first finishers' - and clearly on the road they aren't actually 'winning' a race. The mass runs are usually led home in about 2.15/2.33 - ie as fast as you can be and not get an elite start number. The leaders in the mass fields, to the extent that they describe their finishing place at all, will i think refer to their position amongst the entire men's and women's field.
London Marathon is a race. It has prizes and a podium.
This gets back to the idea that the race bit is as much in people's heads, attitudes and approach as in the event description. London has a pro elite race which has a separate set of results and structure. It also incorporates the national marathon individual and team champs, run under NGB rules and - Note - the competition details of this comp are managed by the NGB and sorted outside London Marathon. The non elite field, incl the NGB champs, is called and listed in results as 'Mass Start' and whilst I'm not sure on this final point I believe I've heard the leading times referred to as 'first finishers' - and clearly on the road they aren't actually 'winning' a race. The mass runs are usually led home in about 2.15/2.33 - ie as fast as you can be and not get an elite start number. The leaders in the mass fields, to the extent that they describe their finishing place at all, will i think refer to their position amongst the entire men's and women's field.
Going off on a tangent I suppose but London marathon does feel very different to, say, Berlin and Boston. London is mainly charity runners, Boston is mainly qualifiers and felt very different to me. I’m not saying that one is better than the other in that regard, but they’re different. They are both races though, organised under race conditions, and, for example, times can be used as qualifiers for other events.
But parkrun is different to both, isn’t it? Even pinning a number on at a local 5K event is different, and feels different, compared to parkrun. parkrun is not a race, and that’s a fact - it is a fact because parkrun themselves say it’s not a race, and that is good enough for me.
So why does Park Run support gay pride, LBBTQIA, themed events promoting these, and suspended events in Russia to support Ukraine? Good causes, but undoubtedly political in nature. And runners are sponsored all the time during park run. I don't see anyone demanding the removal of photographs of them.
Its an anti-women stance, whatever way you look at it. Mara is right to highlight it but its not just Mara (though for some reason a lot of shrews on here would like the world to believe it is) many, if not most of us women runners are against having our places stolen by male-to-female trans athletes.
This isn't going to go away. In 10 years time, we will all be looking back and saying "how did we ever allow that to happen" and the politically correct version will be that women were being discriminated against. Sometimes, you have to not be afraid to be a tall poppy.
I think suspending events in Russia is totally different to not showing pics of Mara, when she was only at the event for one political purpose. And, as I said, this is not parkrun’s issue to solve, as it’s not a race (I know you think it is a race, but if parkrun themselves say it’s not a race, I’ll believe them because, you know, it’s their organisation and their event). That is what Mara has failed to grasp with the parkrun issue. It’s not in parkrun’s power to totally resolve this.
FWIW I felt sorry that ordinary Russians had their parkruns stopped. But I could understand parkrun’s stance, and of course parkrun wasn’t the only organisation to stop operations in Russia.
Also, FWIW, I agree with what Mara is saying about protecting women’s sport, but a) I do not agree in the way she said it, or inflammatory examples she was using and b) I do not agree in her choice of organisation she went for because, as I said, parkrun is not a race, it’s a fun run.
Mara has ran around 20 Park runs a year since her last Olympics and I believe volunteers regularly. Hardly "only at the event for political purpose". Her record at park run is easily available to all on Power of Ten (which is where I checked). She is a regular park runner.
You completely ignored the point made about why park run permits LBGT etc political promotion at its events but not support for women in sport.
None of the fun runs I've ever done record detailed results like park run does. One lists top 3 male and female finishers but gives no times, and is free to enter. Another has a prize for first male and first female only and some years gives times for them only. Park run didn't start out as a fun run, it started out as a time trial and in many areas is heavily supported by local running clubs whose members use it for its original function, to provide timed races to check progress of their members in between bigger races.
There's always been the argument that park run diverts finite resources away from local events (mainly people giving up their time for free). In my area that's probably true. We used to have 2 local winter series races over 3 miles (a cross country series and a road race series) that were well supported, attracted local sponsorship and encouraged the development of young athletes. They no longer exist. Neither required running club membership but were a useful recruiting ground. Similar has happened to a local 3k series in the summer. These club and community organised local events just cannot compete with the park run juggernaut of national organisation and local authority support, but I don't think it's particularly good for young athlete development
Recent events have driven this home and I'm beginning to view park run in a negative light. I will no longer support it.
She owns no park run records even if they existed which they don't.
She can't find anywhere where it's classed as a race and the organisers explicitly say it's not.
Tells everyone she earns lots of money but is emotional to the point of needing sectioning.
She wants to believe somehow people are coming to take a record when in reality no record exists and when people argued the charity just said sod it and removed them.
Seriously deranged.
Still waiting on which Parkrun you were at last weekend.
It will have to be one of the fastest in the UK. Even the dog walkers manage 15 minute 5ks.