By 'all of this goes away' I mean parkrun have made their categories clear and the heat goes from them on to the person who is infracting. At the moment, the heat is almost entirely on parkrun for essentially encouraging these athletes to compete in the wrong sporting category. If they state birth sex only/trans category but that they don't expect volunteers to police it (how could they?), I think that would go a hell of a long way. The current measures feel like a temporary fudge that don't please anyone.
The new measures aren't going to resolve the complaint of women runners that trans runners have beaten them to a top 3 place. Which is still listed (and often printed in local newspapers, media, etc as well as Power Of Ten and Run Britain).
One of the recent posts on mumsnet was from a female runner who was really upset that a trans runner had beaten her to third place. She had come into running in her thirties having been sedentary all her life and got her times down through hard work, and that third place would have been something for her to cherish.
Park run could easily take a stand on this by dq ing from the results athletes who cheat ie make it a rule that if they receive a complaint about an athlete being trans finishing in the top 3 women's results, investigate to a basic level and wipe their result.
Instead, they want to continue throwing women under the bus and this attitude seems to encourage some others to belittle them for "not being fast enough".
When you think that one of the trans park run womens course record holders is the notorious Lauren Jeske, who is still in jail for stabbing and injuring 3 British Athletics officials who were investigating Lauren's cheating, it makes a mockery of the whole thing.
So we've gone from parkrun should remove trans-women from course records, to parkrun should disallow trans-women from top-3 finishes.
We know where this is heading. If it affects a top-3 finisher, why not a top-30 or top-100? They have also worked hard. Therefore, trans-women should be made to register as men to be allowed to run at parkrun.
Alternatively, just remove the competitive element.
To be fair I thought I'd dress as Barbara Cartland so just in case they bring positions back Il be first female.No dogs today but I reckon a record turn out and a massive show of support
If they state birth sex only/trans category but that they don't expect volunteers to police it (how could they?), I think that would go a hell of a long way.
So you don't want anything to actually change regarding the results, you just parkrun to state they agree with you about trans people? What a waste of energy.
If they state birth sex only/trans category but that they don't expect volunteers to police it (how could they?), I think that would go a hell of a long way.
So you don't want anything to actually change regarding the results, you just parkrun to state they agree with you about trans people? What a waste of energy.
Stating an unequivocal rule is a great step yes. Just as they can't police if someone runs with someone else's barcode but they make it clear that you shouldn't do so. The onus is then on participants to follow the rules as set out by parkrun.
So you don't want anything to actually change regarding the results, you just parkrun to state they agree with you about trans people? What a waste of energy.
Stating an unequivocal rule is a great step yes. Just as they can't police if someone runs with someone else's barcode but they make it clear that you shouldn't do so. The onus is then on participants to follow the rules as set out by parkrun.
So the sum total of what you want is some text on a website changed? A lot of time and energy has gone into this campaign, can you not see why people are suspicious of their real intentions when their demands seem to make no discernable difference?
In NZ recently, (2 weeks ago I think) we were positively encouraged by parkrun NZ themselves, to celebrate the 100th birthday of a park runner (this was all park runs around the country). Not only because he turned 100, but also because I believe he holds (held) the world AG record for parkrun. I cannot believe there is one person on the planet who would not turn up for parkrun because of his name is mentioned at the bottom of the various internet pages race reports etc. Quite the contrary I suspect 99.99% would likely find it inspirational what he does.
If it was now no one would never have even known about him.
I'm never running parkrun again. It seems that there is an us and them thing going on. The comments on social media and the attitude towards those that are seen as elitist because they are disappointed about records going is just the opposite of inclusive.
I get it. They don't want to have to deal with the M / F category arguments and the associated records being wrongly claimed. They are not set-up to deal with this and I sympathise with the organisers.
I personally don't see the records as an issue, despite my family members working hard for the ones they have. It's the attitude from those that see themselves as pure blood parkrunners, that sneer at you if you discuss times or talk about having a good performance.
I went out to a runners dinner once and had the misfortune of sitting next to one of them. I said I hadn't returned to one course since it was too congested and that it was now ruined by people walking with pushchairs and walking both sides on the narrow paths. Even when I told him I had to stop to pick up someone that had a head wound from face planting after tripping on a pushchair, all this guy could tell me was that it's their right to walk with pushchairs if they want to. Who was I to deny them their exercise.
I'm glad it's got many people running but it's not for me anymore
I'm never running parkrun again. It seems that there is an us and them thing going on. The comments on social media and the attitude towards those that are seen as elitist because they are disappointed about records going is just the opposite of inclusive.
I get it. They don't want to have to deal with the M / F category arguments and the associated records being wrongly claimed. They are not set-up to deal with this and I sympathise with the organisers.
I personally don't see the records as an issue, despite my family members working hard for the ones they have. It's the attitude from those that see themselves as pure blood parkrunners, that sneer at you if you discuss times or talk about having a good performance.
I went out to a runners dinner once and had the misfortune of sitting next to one of them. I said I hadn't returned to one course since it was too congested and that it was now ruined by people walking with pushchairs and walking both sides on the narrow paths. Even when I told him I had to stop to pick up someone that had a head wound from face planting after tripping on a pushchair, all this guy could tell me was that it's their right to walk with pushchairs if they want to. Who was I to deny them their exercise.
I'm glad it's got many people running but it's not for me anymore
I'm not running it again either. They obviously don't want to encourage women runners who don't fall into their usual demographic of stragglers and pushchairs, and care more about giving people born as men two categories to get in the top 3.
Other side of the coin, I must admit the thing I hate most about park run, speaking as a former sub elite woman now running a slow 19.30 in my late forties to occasionally be first woman on a good day, is those male park runners who make it their aim to target you as the only person they are interested in defeating in the race. They follow on your heels, you can hear their laboured breathing, and try and sprint past you at the finish. They ignore all of the male runners. Then they come up to you in that little narrow finish chute (if they haven't barged you out of the way despite finishing behind you, that has actually happened to me) and tell you how they've been trying to beat you for the last 3 races. If you don't manage to escape quickly enough, they follow you around telling you about their extremely boring training and previous times.
There just aren't many 5k road races around here within 90 minutes drive, as a former middle distance runner I don't really like 10k but I do like to race every 2 or 3 weeks. But all of this has really put me off park run and I certainly don't want my participation to boost some former man's excitement about thinking he is a woman now and can race in our category and steal our placings.
Us women are always being told to boycott things to make our point anyway.
"The back is where you’ll find the newbies, the people with buggies, hen dos, walkers – and me."
Everyone that letsrun hates. I'm happy they've got their parkrun back.
Honestly, reading Twister Times' pathetic sob story above about the men who had the chutzpah to overtake her while breathing is exactly why I go to the back. The front is stocked with terrible people.
I'm never running parkrun again. It seems that there is an us and them thing going on. The comments on social media and the attitude towards those that are seen as elitist because they are disappointed about records going is just the opposite of inclusive.
I get it. They don't want to have to deal with the M / F category arguments and the associated records being wrongly claimed. They are not set-up to deal with this and I sympathise with the organisers.
I personally don't see the records as an issue, despite my family members working hard for the ones they have. It's the attitude from those that see themselves as pure blood parkrunners, that sneer at you if you discuss times or talk about having a good performance.
I went out to a runners dinner once and had the misfortune of sitting next to one of them. I said I hadn't returned to one course since it was too congested and that it was now ruined by people walking with pushchairs and walking both sides on the narrow paths. Even when I told him I had to stop to pick up someone that had a head wound from face planting after tripping on a pushchair, all this guy could tell me was that it's their right to walk with pushchairs if they want to. Who was I to deny them their exercise.
I'm glad it's got many people running but it's not for me anymore
I'm not running it again either. They obviously don't want to encourage women runners who don't fall into their usual demographic of stragglers and pushchairs, and care more about giving people born as men two categories to get in the top 3.
Other side of the coin, I must admit the thing I hate most about park run, speaking as a former sub elite woman now running a slow 19.30 in my late forties to occasionally be first woman on a good day, is those male park runners who make it their aim to target you as the only person they are interested in defeating in the race. They follow on your heels, you can hear their laboured breathing, and try and sprint past you at the finish. They ignore all of the male runners. Then they come up to you in that little narrow finish chute (if they haven't barged you out of the way despite finishing behind you, that has actually happened to me) and tell you how they've been trying to beat you for the last 3 races. If you don't manage to escape quickly enough, they follow you around telling you about their extremely boring training and previous times.
There just aren't many 5k road races around here within 90 minutes drive, as a former middle distance runner I don't really like 10k but I do like to race every 2 or 3 weeks. But all of this has really put me off park run and I certainly don't want my participation to boost some former man's excitement about thinking he is a woman now and can race in our category and steal our placings.
Us women are always being told to boycott things to make our point anyway.
I can only hope that you don’t do that.
Carry on running it. Use it as a useful tempo run on Saturday morning. No more, no less.
This trans stuff will fade away. The next generation will come through and, thankfully, rebel against the insanity that is being presented to them as holy writ.
I know this concept is really abstract, but literally nothing about the event itself has changed. I understand that some people used the records as "motivation." That's a real thing. Kinda.
So unless you are the world record holder, the fact that you finished first in your parkrun is more of a function of who shows up. Yes, I know it feels good to win. But when I finish third in my age group, I know what it is. Third. In my age group. In one of thousands of road races taking place around the world on that day. If some other faster runners had showed up, I'm off the podium. If I hadn't showed up, 4th place finisher we be on the podium. But none of the performances have changed. Your "place" is an accident over which you have no control whereas your time is the real measure of your performance that day. I won't try to change anyone's mind (🙄), but when your "motivation" is the result of an accident, your motivation is constantly in danger being taken from you.
I suspect people are claiming "motivation," but what they really mean if their being honest is "ego." Ego rocks, too, but it sounds a lot more self-serving than "motivation," because it is. And that's OK. But let's be honest: which sounds better on social media? "I ran 21:07 in a 5k parkrun." or "I came in third in today's parkrun." I get it. It's just that we should call it what it is. Your ego is in danger of losing (one of) its identities.
I'm a competitive runner when I race. Getting on an age group podium, however, is not my only "motivation" for running/racing. If it were, I would have quit during my 15 years as a mid-to-back packer. It's more of a reward that sometimes (accidentally) falls to me. Personally, my measure is if I ran up to my expectations on the day. Did I run a time my training predicted? Am I on track in this "B" race" to make a breakthrough in my upcoming "A" race? Things like that.
Maybe the boycotters have only that single competitive motivation for showing up. If so, I can understand your disappointment and your boycott makes sense. Maybe you’ll succeed in getting the changes reversed. If you have more than that single motivation, maybe you can just adjust your thinking when you participate in parkruns.
I know this concept is really abstract, but literally nothing about the event itself has changed.
I feel you're missing the point. They've deleted years of data and countless category records that were used by thousands of avid runners, all to avoid having to say that a handful of men shouldn't be racing in the women's category. That's what this is about, beyond any shadow of a doubt. The participation/barriers chat is just noise.
