Are Park Runs Destructive ?

[Witton Park]

http://www.eightlane.com/indexforum....page=forum.php
If you have time have a look at this where variuos for and against points are made.

My opinions were not against Park Run. They were more against the corner cutting that allowed events that were set up as informal time trials to become events with results posted in AW and rankings appearing on the Power of 10.

I know that several athletes last winter went down to Park Run 5Ks and didn't turn out in the Red Rose XC for their clubs - they came and watched. So no matter what the organisers of PR say, they will and are having an effect on existing fixtures, no evidence that it is positive and perhaps even taking money out of the sport.

I know that some races have disappeared from the calendar recently - Waddington 10K, Whalley Nab, Kirkham 10K, the almost legendary Chorley 4 miles. That's because generally they became tied up by Loacl Goct, Police, HSE, traffic management etc and are no loner viable.

Park Run cuts many of those corners.

[Mud]

they became tied up by Local Govt, Police, HSE, traffic management etc and are no longer viable.

Park Run cuts many of those corners.

Which means Park Runs are rather good...?

[john doe]

Might be a Whitton Park run in the future:wink:

[dominion]

Which means Park Runs are rather good...?

No it doesn't. A lot of clubs used to use races as a means of raising funds to support the activities of the club. In particular paying for young athletes events. The Police and Councils have withdawn support for the races which fund the opportunities for young athletes in their own communities. Parkrun doesn't cater for kids so that's not even an alternative.

[Witton Park]

Today I was at the NW Relays at Leigh.

They couldn't even manage to close off a few of the car parks at Leigh Sports Village and we had juniors running around with cars pulling out in front of them - and the sight of drivers complaining at the marshalls that they weren't allowing the cars the right of way.

In principal park run sounds great - but it's what the charity shops are to retail - it is unfair competition.

If Blackburn Harriers want to use Witton Park for a race, we have to pay. That's an overhead to start with. We need a permit, we have to bring in first aid (for not less than £100 these days) to fullfill the risk assessment that we have to do.

If Blackburn Harriers want to host the 5K again next tear, we need a £20K budget or the Council support. You can see that for 200 runners it's not viable as a race in itself unless the Borough deem it useful to promote the town.

Strange though how a anti Afghan war demo comes along and they can close off half the town and get a police escort at no cost to those protesters.

Maybe we should send all the 5K runners round next year with a pot of Ski and some knitting needles?

[Rob Furness]

In principal park run sounds great - but it's what the charity shops are to retail - it is unfair competition.

[TheHeathens]

I personally think the Park Runs are a great idea, and perfect for people with families (they're early enough to not impact on your weekend).

Club race organisers just need to be flexible and adapt - offer something that Parkrun can't. Answers on a postcard as to what that may be.

[Witton Park]

It's not that easy Heathens, as I've said above. Park Run (I assume) isn't paying for the use of the parks it uses - if we tried to do that at Witton, we wouldn't get away with it. £75 before we start.
As clubs, we have responsibilities and have to follow certain procedures, often in place for good reason.

[idler]

The lack of red tape attached to Park Runs sounds rather refreshing. Kind of like a fell run, no?

I'd probably join in if they were nearby, nice to know they're always there. There's a midweek multi-terrain club series here in September. Turn up, pay a quid, no faff, run, results and all that malarkey. Great stuff. You could equally argue it's a shame you can't get non-club runners involved in those, it's a great entry into the sport. They're all just different entry points.

Clubs might be threatened in specific circumstance by Park Runs, but attacking them generally is missing the point. It's about running and runners, not clubs. Realistically clubs only cater for quite a small % of People Who Run.