Thanks for posting the link. Was a fun read for a boring Friday afternoon at the office.
That said, I'm not sure what the point of the article was. It would have been a lot more interesting had he attempted to get some anonymous interviews with actual cheaters or something like that. Would be interesting to actually go inside their minds a bit and try to understand why some 4-hour marathon jogger feels better if they post a 3:45, or whatever.
I'm running my 400th parkrun tomorrow, I can understand the negativity here amongst all you elite athletes who earn 250K and have supermodel girlfriends but actually parkrun is an amazingly good thing for running despite the odd stupid thing such as the claim that it isn't a race.
As for the cheating, well it has happened at my parkrun and the cuplrit was outed and removed from the results and it was quietly forgotten. Does it happen generally? I wouldn't be surprised, I saw something suspicious a few weeks ago and brought it up on a running forum then asked for my comment to be removed.
The reaction about the RW cheat was a bit OTT, an expression of disapproval that it spoiled an otherwise good article would have been good enough.
It is noticeable that people have a really hard time grasping that parkrun is a free 5K race every Saturday and that's it, they almost always try to compare it with things it isn't. My local course is all tarmac and certified 5K and the course record is 14:24 - I can hear all you Letsrun standard forum people who do 13:24 in trainers laughing at this even now.
It says "parkrun is a not-for-profit organisation. All income directly supports our existing events and is used for the development of parkrun. parkrun UK has no shareholders."
I don't have anything against Parkrun. Seems like an okay idea.
However, you have to understand how NFP's work. The income "used for the development of parkrun" can be used to pay employees. Those employees can make A LOT of money.
(I used to work with a company that did business with NFPs and many of them had employees making $150,000 - $200,000 per year).
The not for profit designation comes from the money after operational expenses.
also park run is a company so i dont understand why people volunteer there free time so other people can make money
People volunteer their free time so that the race can occur. Given that it’s a free race, there is no way it could occur without volunteers.
If in exchange for me getting to run a free 5k every weekend, the directors of parkrun are somehow making money from their milestone tshirts and optional wrist bands, I’m fine with that.
There are a lot of easier ways to make money than organizing global weekly 5ks in hopes some people buy optional milestone shirts.
also park run is a company so i dont understand why people volunteer there free time so other people can make money
People volunteer their free time so that the race can occur. Given that it’s a free race, there is no way it could occur without volunteers.
If in exchange for me getting to run a free 5k every weekend, the directors of parkrun are somehow making money from their milestone tshirts and optional wrist bands, I’m fine with that.
There are a lot of easier ways to make money than organizing global weekly 5ks in hopes some people buy optional milestone shirts.
yes, I know this thread is 5 years old.
Maybe someone should have told the boss it was not for profit
People volunteer their free time so that the race can occur. Given that it’s a free race, there is no way it could occur without volunteers.
If in exchange for me getting to run a free 5k every weekend, the directors of parkrun are somehow making money from their milestone tshirts and optional wrist bands, I’m fine with that.
There are a lot of easier ways to make money than organizing global weekly 5ks in hopes some people buy optional milestone shirts.
yes, I know this thread is 5 years old.
Maybe someone should have told the boss it was not for profit
