Why hasn't parkrun taken off in the US?

Because most people are too fat to run.

Parkrun was what got me started in running a few years back in my late forties.

The way I see it, is it's a free social time trial every week. It maybe a 'race' for the top few, but for most, week in/week out, it's a personal test of how you are doing, how well you are progressing. It's addictive.

Have met a lot of friends there, you get to know those who run at a similar pace to you. I started out at 28:50, now down to 21 (aged 50), and would like to get sub 20, but probably a bit optimistic there. My partner and one of the kids do it also. There's loads of similar folk, not just the young ones, but the older folk getting fit, competitively with themselves.

You are encouraged to volunteer 1 in 10 times or so. This works well in practice. Some times partners who don't run, volunteer a lot, people like pacers volunteer but also run, same if you are a quick runner. You can run fast, then when you finish do some barcode scanning or something. So volunteering can be mixed.

There's also new Junior parkruns, great for introducing the young uns into healthy habits, but I also suspect this will pay off in the future, with having a lot of depth in running when they progress to the more serious stuff.

Local businesses do well out of it, ours starts/finishes near a cafe, which has made so much cash from runners it's not funny. Far outweighs any costs (they didn't pay it). It's also great to have it all centralised. Whenever we go on holiday, we look if there's a local parkrun, attracts more people there, gets you to know the locals, and spend more nearby.

The sponsors over here, seem to be the health insurance sector, or other positive health ideas interestingly, like Vitality. You can sync up your gps watch with them, and get points for being healthy, points for running, extra points for parkruns, eating healthy etc, and then you can get discounts on Garmin/Polar watches, running shoes (only 1 pair/year), movie tickets etc. They also know you are healthy, so end up insuring healthy people, so probably costs them less. So there's also a slightly symbiotic relationship there in terms of wanting to be fit.

Free milestone t-shirts for running and for volunteering. Having pacers (this tends to happen more at the popular ones, or when a running club all volunteer, they normally do a pacer for every minute 18-35) is great. Pacers have helped push me.

All in all, those places that run a parkrun are reaping the benefits of it all. No one pays for the run, which encourages all sorts. They get healthier, health costs nationwide drop. People become more social. The local running clubs are suddenly growing stupidly fast (several month waiting lists now near me).

I helped setup my local parkrun and I always said "if you think parkrun is successful because of the running then you're missing the point".

What makes parkrun successful is that it's something that brings people together and/or gets them into running without feeling judged. There is a real feel-good atmosphere to it.

Good runners automatically enjoy it because it's a chance to race and show off.

But also many new runners start doing it because they hear by word-of-mouth that it's welcoming. When they pluck up the courage to attend their first event, they receive a nice round of applause (as First Timers) and they usually find they're not last to finish, or holding anyone up and that 5K wasn't that bad. Even if they were last it wouldn't matter, the tailwalker would chat to them.

My guess is that those values don't sit too well with your average American. It's all a bit too socialist, non-competitive and lacking in the opportunity to make money from runners or their data.

AnotherParkrunnerUk wrote:

Local businesses do well out of it, ours starts/finishes near a cafe, which has made so much cash from runners it's not funny. Far outweighs any costs (they didn't pay it). It's also great to have it all centralised. Whenever we go on holiday, we look if there's a local parkrun, attracts more people there, gets you to know the locals, and spend more nearby.

I was told some years ago that one nearby parkrun was set up by the local cafe owner because he wanted more trade. After about a year he handed over control to one of the runners or a club. I'm sure he recouped his set up fee within that first year and then profited on into the future.

Re: start up costs -- here in Canada there's no longer a need to fundraise $5000 (through city/town grants or sponsorship -- there was never any expectation that this would come from private funds, but that's smart on the part of the cafe owner) as they have simplified the start up model -- timing is now done through a free app, so there isn't the need to supply new events with expensive hardware, a bunch of signage etc. I think the national partnership with Saucony provides funds for insurance. I don't know 100% if that's the case in all countries but I believe so, which significantly lowers the barrier to entry for a community.

parkrun is growing quite significantly across Canada. There are about 40 events here now or just under with quite a number in development, it's more than doubled in events since this time last year. It's really been a positive addition to our local running community.

Good to see there is one in the Cleveland area now! Right now there aren't many people following it on Facebook but I can definitely see it taking off here.

Los Angeles area has zero. But we have 75 5Ks and a few marathons every weekend. Still, I'd rather a parkrun.

Why hasn't parkrun taken off in the Falkland Islands? Too late with this question, unless it is some kind of test data it appears that it is about to if you go to

https://www.parkrun.com/countries/

Then get a map up and move around the globe to the tip of South America.

Didn't Park runs have ridiculous start up costs?

It probably easier and cheaper to organize a running group yourself.

Uhh wrote:

My guess is that those values don't sit too well with your average American. It's all a bit too socialist, non-competitive and lacking in the opportunity to make money from runners or their data.

But somebody is making money of Parkruns. It's just not an American.

Gordon Gekko wrote:

But somebody is making money of Parkruns. It's just not an American.

Who? how? and how much?

We had them in the 80s inFlushing Meadow Park , Queens , NY .

Sri Chinmoy organized , I believe .

And Marine Park , Brooklyn , NY one mile Wednesday circuit in the 80s also .

I believe organized by the Marine Park TC .

'Twas a haul for me from the Bronx . But just a bunch who wanted to prove their worth .

No pros for sure , but it was something to look forward to in the middle of the work week .

Ahhh , to be able to run and sweat like that again .