I did wonder if they would do this eventually. They got a lot of flack last time it was discovered that a trans woman had smashed a course record. They probably don’t want to deal with the publicity storm it caused last time.
Parkrun has always been more about individual achievement and community than rankings anyway. Most participants are unlikely to care too much about this.
I think this is a mistake. I’m absolutely not a fast runner but honestly I see these top times as kind of inspirational rather than off-putting.
Not as in one day I’ll be able to run that fast – I won’t – but more like it’s impressive that people can get those times.
People are free to totally ignore the course records if they want to. Whenever I do Parkruns (which admittedly is not that often) I just focus on my own time and not anyone else’s.
I am usually against this sort of thing because I believe that competition is healthy and that failure to beat a record, or place in an event, is not something to be ashamed about.
However, I can understand it in this case. Parkrun as I understand it isn’t meant to be a competitive event but a recreation one targeted at getting people into running regularly as opposed to catering to intermediate to advanced runners. As such I can understand why such records would be intimidating. I am not a fast runner but I am not slow either. I have found that people who are new to running get very self-conscious about pace and timing. A sub-17 5k is a target for a real, competitive, race and not one for a recreation one.
In my opinion this is a mistake! I find the fast runners are inspiring, good on them for being able to finish a 5k in such incredible time.
Been an embarrassingly long time since I thought of Parkrun, but from my memory, is there really anything else they could have done.
I presume Gender was a tickbox on their website, and then you turn up and run. There is no infrastructure or money to verify **anything** apart from “this barcode crossed the line at x time”.
What exactly could they do without building a bureaucracy that stopped them being volunteer parkruns?
What did the critics expect?
See this sort of mad thinking in loads of places
I was tasked to make an infographic for a mountain climbing challenge that you’re supposed to do in under a certain amount of time, which I put on the graphic. Social media team banged their heads together and sent it back to me because they thought that adding the actual challenge might be too intimidating to handle.
For park run i suppose it makes more sense as you’re meant to be challenging just yourself
I loathe running but the couple of times I gave park run a go I was happy to at least know where I stood. What a silly business all around.
Not a coincidence all the papers start freaking out about trans people “wrecking” a largely non-competitive fun run event by participating the day after sunak accidentally made them look sympathetic by publicly insulting a murdered trans child to her grieving mother’s face.
This is just going to push it underground. I want my fast runners where I can see them, or at least barely see them as they fucking bomb it past me. It’ll just mean that runners are doing it in places where they can’t be seen, like running laps through business estates or in derelict buildings.
It’s not the records that are off putting to me, it’s the running
Guarantee this leads to ‘black market’ records, people will still time themselves and share to a Facebook group or something
This races are about your own personal best. Run your own race and you will be a lot happier.
As an avid Parkruner who has finished first before but is no where near troubling Sub 17 or let alone course record I don’t really care.
I enjoyed looking at course records and I enjoy seeing quick people down my local course.
But all the stats are still included, you still get your PBs.
And any who has had a record removed is putting a lot of effort into their running and really shouldn’t be too deeply worried about being on a list on the Park run website.
I personally wouldn’t have removed them but also really don’t care that they have.
It’s amazing how a fun-run organisation ignited a whole trans women in sports debate by recognising a trans runner as a woman.
Almost like this whole debate reeks of more transphobia than a Liz Truss press conference.
People who are really competitive about running are not bothered about their Parkrun time, they know their PB and will just use others as a benchmark for improvement if they consider them at all. You are always your own worst enemy when jogging and you just want to be faster than you were last week. It will be marathon times that serious joggers are concerned about. The Parkrun is already really casual and inclusive when it comes to participation, those who want records removed are only doing so because of the Parkrun’s stance on trans people, which only shows that Sunak’s comment yesterday has an audience.
Just include effort metrics – number of runs, total distance etc.
Steve is celebrating his 100th run 👏
They got the bloke who holds the record at our local park run to turn the Christmas lights on in the town square last year. Who are they going to get to do it now?
While I am a little didappointed it’s the route that will create the least amount negative press and remains inclusive to all. At the end of the day it’s a fucking parkrun.
lol let’s lower the bar so we don’t hurt feelings. Pathetic.
Most people use the Strava record as the one to beat anyway.
I’m absolutely not surprised they’ve removed the records. When they were up, they *did* show that almost every single women’s track and field record bar one was beaten by a 14 or 15 year old boy’s record. Very embarrassing for ideologues to have that sort of data floating about for plebs to see.
How do you know someone does Parkrun? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah I’m not the fastest to ever run this race?? This hurts my feelings waaaaaaaaaah
All so they don’t have to deal with trans women smashing records with their innate genetic advantages
That being said have any trans women actually broken a course record? Or is this hypothetical toilet anti trans outrage
24 comments
I did wonder if they would do this eventually. They got a lot of flack last time it was discovered that a trans woman had smashed a course record. They probably don’t want to deal with the publicity storm it caused last time.
Parkrun has always been more about individual achievement and community than rankings anyway. Most participants are unlikely to care too much about this.
I think this is a mistake. I’m absolutely not a fast runner but honestly I see these top times as kind of inspirational rather than off-putting.
Not as in one day I’ll be able to run that fast – I won’t – but more like it’s impressive that people can get those times.
People are free to totally ignore the course records if they want to. Whenever I do Parkruns (which admittedly is not that often) I just focus on my own time and not anyone else’s.
I am usually against this sort of thing because I believe that competition is healthy and that failure to beat a record, or place in an event, is not something to be ashamed about.
However, I can understand it in this case. Parkrun as I understand it isn’t meant to be a competitive event but a recreation one targeted at getting people into running regularly as opposed to catering to intermediate to advanced runners. As such I can understand why such records would be intimidating. I am not a fast runner but I am not slow either. I have found that people who are new to running get very self-conscious about pace and timing. A sub-17 5k is a target for a real, competitive, race and not one for a recreation one.
In my opinion this is a mistake! I find the fast runners are inspiring, good on them for being able to finish a 5k in such incredible time.
Been an embarrassingly long time since I thought of Parkrun, but from my memory, is there really anything else they could have done.
I presume Gender was a tickbox on their website, and then you turn up and run. There is no infrastructure or money to verify **anything** apart from “this barcode crossed the line at x time”.
What exactly could they do without building a bureaucracy that stopped them being volunteer parkruns?
What did the critics expect?
See this sort of mad thinking in loads of places
I was tasked to make an infographic for a mountain climbing challenge that you’re supposed to do in under a certain amount of time, which I put on the graphic. Social media team banged their heads together and sent it back to me because they thought that adding the actual challenge might be too intimidating to handle.
For park run i suppose it makes more sense as you’re meant to be challenging just yourself
I loathe running but the couple of times I gave park run a go I was happy to at least know where I stood. What a silly business all around.
Not a coincidence all the papers start freaking out about trans people “wrecking” a largely non-competitive fun run event by participating the day after sunak accidentally made them look sympathetic by publicly insulting a murdered trans child to her grieving mother’s face.
This is just going to push it underground. I want my fast runners where I can see them, or at least barely see them as they fucking bomb it past me. It’ll just mean that runners are doing it in places where they can’t be seen, like running laps through business estates or in derelict buildings.
It’s not the records that are off putting to me, it’s the running
Guarantee this leads to ‘black market’ records, people will still time themselves and share to a Facebook group or something
This races are about your own personal best. Run your own race and you will be a lot happier.
As an avid Parkruner who has finished first before but is no where near troubling Sub 17 or let alone course record I don’t really care.
I enjoyed looking at course records and I enjoy seeing quick people down my local course.
But all the stats are still included, you still get your PBs.
And any who has had a record removed is putting a lot of effort into their running and really shouldn’t be too deeply worried about being on a list on the Park run website.
I personally wouldn’t have removed them but also really don’t care that they have.
It’s amazing how a fun-run organisation ignited a whole trans women in sports debate by recognising a trans runner as a woman.
Almost like this whole debate reeks of more transphobia than a Liz Truss press conference.
People who are really competitive about running are not bothered about their Parkrun time, they know their PB and will just use others as a benchmark for improvement if they consider them at all. You are always your own worst enemy when jogging and you just want to be faster than you were last week. It will be marathon times that serious joggers are concerned about. The Parkrun is already really casual and inclusive when it comes to participation, those who want records removed are only doing so because of the Parkrun’s stance on trans people, which only shows that Sunak’s comment yesterday has an audience.
Just include effort metrics – number of runs, total distance etc.
Steve is celebrating his 100th run 👏
They got the bloke who holds the record at our local park run to turn the Christmas lights on in the town square last year. Who are they going to get to do it now?
While I am a little didappointed it’s the route that will create the least amount negative press and remains inclusive to all. At the end of the day it’s a fucking parkrun.
lol let’s lower the bar so we don’t hurt feelings. Pathetic.
Most people use the Strava record as the one to beat anyway.
I’m absolutely not surprised they’ve removed the records. When they were up, they *did* show that almost every single women’s track and field record bar one was beaten by a 14 or 15 year old boy’s record. Very embarrassing for ideologues to have that sort of data floating about for plebs to see.
How do you know someone does Parkrun? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah I’m not the fastest to ever run this race?? This hurts my feelings waaaaaaaaaah
All so they don’t have to deal with trans women smashing records with their innate genetic advantages
That being said have any trans women actually broken a course record? Or is this hypothetical toilet anti trans outrage