For some peculiar reason, Parkrun UK has decided to delete course race history, age category records and fastest finishers.
Anyone know why?
"We know that our websites are an important source of information for all parkrunners, especially for those who are new and yet to take part.
Our insight tells us that some of the content we share and how we present it can be off-putting or create opportunities for misunderstanding (e.g. parkrun is not a race but we list most things like most first finishes).
So in the coming days we will no longer publish data such as attendance records, course records, fastest finishers, most first finishes, and age graded or category records.
The results pages for every event, your personalised results email and your individual profile pages will remain unchanged."
The sport once again bends it's knee to accommodate for the complaints of the slower and entitled complainers. I'm sure the next step will be to remove numerical finisher placings. Inclusivity for all, except not for the people towards the front. The organisation is a joke.
FWIW you can still find the course record for every course, just go to 'Event History' and 'Sort By' then select 'Male (or female) Finisher Time' and the fastest result will come to the top.
Pathetic. Parkrun can go f off. And I've been a big supporter. Jeez
"We know that our websites are an important source of information for all parkrunners, especially for those who are new and yet to take part.
Our insight tells us that some of the content we share and how we present it can be off-putting or create opportunities for misunderstanding (e.g. parkrun is not a race but we list most things like most first finishes).
So in the coming days we will no longer publish data such as attendance records, course records, fastest finishers, most first finishes, and age graded or category records.
The results pages for every event, your personalised results email and your individual profile pages will remain unchanged."
The sport once again bends it's knee to accommodate for the complaints of the slower and entitled complainers. I'm sure the next step will be to remove numerical finisher placings. Inclusivity for all, except not for the people towards the front. The organisation is a joke.
FWIW you can still find the course record for every course, just go to 'Event History' and 'Sort By' then select 'Male (or female) Finisher Time' and the fastest result will come to the top.
parkrun has always had very little to do with the sport of competitive running. It simply uses the act of running to promote well being, health and community.
The sport once again bends it's knee to accommodate for the complaints of the slower and entitled complainers. I'm sure the next step will be to remove numerical finisher placings. Inclusivity for all, except not for the people towards the front. The organisation is a joke.
But it's not bending the need to accommodate slower runners. It's not playing games with the anti-trans crusade Mara and Sharon have started against Parkrun with the help of the Daily Mail and calling for government funding to be removed.
Mara and Sharon aren't happy 3 out of hundreds and hundreds of records are help by some born a man (who from the pics in the daily mail you'd never guess). So to stop them moaning about the records, they've removed the records.
Women complaining they don't have the records. So they've removed them from men.
Mara was such a big supporter of parkrun, she volunteered 9 times in 11 years...
Mara had this big grift planned where she spent years railing against World Athletics and British Athletics where she bravely campaigned against trans women competing in the sport.
They ruined it for her by (rightfully) banning them.
So she had to do something with her time, hence her crusade against Parkrun.
so apparently when you sign up for parkrun you can select any gender you like. This has resulted in several transwomen and straight up men pretending to be females and snatching the female course record at a lot of places. Some female athletes called parkrun out on this but out of fear of not appearing inclusive they decided to wipe ALL of the records.
I was born biologically in 2003, but I identify as a 61 year old. I own over a hundred different VM60 Parkrun course records up and down the country. Transagephobes can go home devastated for all I care.
Agree. Parkrun have got this right. It IS a run, NOT a race. Secondly parkrun times should not contribute to runbritain rankings (which are pointless anyway). All the data and competitiveness takes away from the enjoyment. If you want to race, enter a race.
Agree. Parkrun have got this right. It IS a run, NOT a race. Secondly parkrun times should not contribute to runbritain rankings (which are pointless anyway). All the data and competitiveness takes away from the enjoyment. If you want to race, enter a race.
There is absolutely no reason it cannot be all things to all people. And again, if its not a race, why circulate a list of ranked by time runners after each event? The answer is because some segment of the participants value that. Age grading could be limited to people's emailed results, they are sort of pointless and they are far more potentially "offensive" or whatever to slow people than displaying a course record.
Agree. Parkrun have got this right. It IS a run, NOT a race. Secondly parkrun times should not contribute to runbritain rankings (which are pointless anyway). All the data and competitiveness takes away from the enjoyment. If you want to race, enter a race.
This sucks if you live somewhere with very few races locally. Fine for city folk with race options most weekends and $$$ to spare, but for some of us this is the only opportunity for regular competitive running.
It appears they also deleted U.S. age group records, top times lists, age graded lists, etc.
I have primarily used almost all of my 30 Parkruns (at two different local events) as either my second or third weekly 'workout' (i.e. hard run).
This has proven motivating to run hard and finish reasonably well without going super easy on Friday (and likely with a hard run on Thursday).
Geezer alert - I am not ashamed to admit I do (did?) pay attention to both Parkrun's age-graded league (or straight age grading results for regular road races) and age-group records.
'Age graded results' provide(d) some reachable goals once my PB days are behind me. Otherwise it is not much fun training hard to run a hard 5k at the same pace you regularly ran full marathons - things change when you are approaching 70 y/o. For example: although a 25 y/o guy ran his PB at last weekend's local run and ran 00:07faster than I did, I can take some consolation knowing that on using the a/g charts my geezer effort was 05:30 'quicker'.
There is nothing wrong with the originator's intent and construction of "parkrun". Any changes intended due to some miscreants immature attitude need to be ignored.
Cuz it's not a race therefore no records, 'race' results etc?
So just don't time it then and don't publish the results, and then see that only a few dozen fatties are turning up to Parkruns that formerly attracted hundreds of runners.
I'd bet that at least 2/3 of Parkrunners care about both their time and position. I finished around 400 out of 600 something at a Parkrun on the South Coast in the summer after being injured and going gently. The Parkrunners around me were all clearly trying to go as fast as they could, breathing heavy, and trying to outsprint each other at the end. That was for a 28 minute 5K.
I also wonder what their new sponsors Brooks think of all this?
But it doesn't really matter so long as they do continue to time them and publish the results, as all it takes is for somebody with a bit of Python coding knowledge to create their own site that can work out and list all the category records for every course.
Agree. Parkrun have got this right. It IS a run, NOT a race. Secondly parkrun times should not contribute to runbritain rankings (which are pointless anyway). All the data and competitiveness takes away from the enjoyment. If you want to race, enter a race.
Agree. Parkrun have got this right. It IS a run, NOT a race. Secondly parkrun times should not contribute to runbritain rankings (which are pointless anyway). All the data and competitiveness takes away from the enjoyment. If you want to race, enter a race.
Why can’t it be both?
Because if it's competitive it needs to be fair and if it's fair then it can't be inclusive.
Parkrun chose inclusivity over racing from day one. See the founder's comment today
I will always support the right for everyone to participate over the right of a few to compete.