We seem to be in a Parkrun wasteland up here. Do you fancy organising one WP?
Printable View
We seem to be in a Parkrun wasteland up here. Do you fancy organising one WP?
http://www.ukresults.net/2010/cumbriaxc10.html
Is Ricky running for you in the Mid Lancs and other cross country this winter?
He can - whether he will or not is a different matter.
I did my first parkrun 3 weeks ago. I havnt done another yet as I had plans on the weekends. I though it was great (I'm not attached to a Club as there is only a track and road running club in my area.) 4 of my friends came along too, also not attached to a Club. One of them has now joined a club in his area as he enjoyed the parkrun so much.
At the event there was a guy from Sphinx Athletics Club giving out flyers for "The Coombe Park Winter 8" and we have all entered. Wouldnt of even known about the event if we hadnt gone to parkrun. Also got my sister, my daugher and 5 friends to enter too so that is a fair few £12 to the Club thanks to parkrun. It will be my sisters first race. She will never go to a parkrun as she works on Saturdays.
I loved the friendliness of everyone there and it was brilliant to see so many people of all running abilities just loving it and having a go :-) About 150 runners ranging from 16 mins to 45mins and age range of 8 to 80 They were all smiling at the end ;-)
I've not counted but I'd say that I run parkrun as training so in addition to usual races. And it looks like that http://www.thepowerof10.info/athlete...thleteid=16968. I also do all the GM League XC races - but not good enough to show in powerof10 ;). Like many I'm limited by work and family and travel time to races. parkrun is 400m away and includes the family.
Yes that is a fair point WP. And partly why I said no direct funding. But then again you have to look at all the public money that goes on promoting exercise - leisure centres, council gyms, RunBritain gimmicks, Fit4Life posters and adverts, personal trainers for obese teenagers. parkrun is good value in comparison and utilises parks for a community event.
We're also providing 5ks for slower runners who might take 30mins+ to get round. It is questionable whether you want too many people running say 1.20 in a club 10k and certainly not a fell race if you're marshalling on a cold hill.
I suppose the next few months and possibly years might effect this whole argument.
I love running fell races, and always will. Do I like road? I used to, but not particularly bothered now, apart from a couple of marathons a year.
So what will the future hold if peoples income lowers etc.
Will people be stumping up £30 - £40 to do road races? Some will.
Will they all turn to the fells because the cost is less. I doubt it.
Will they turn to Park Run? Some, but as previously mentioned, not everyone wants to do a 5k.
Will Park Run widen it's race range to accomodate skint runners? I doubt it.
Time will tell.
But in the end I'm sure running will survive.
I noticed there were nearly 300 in the senior mens race alone at the GM XC opener at Heaton Park http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2010/maccls1.pdf so if anything numbers were up. There was a parkrun there in the morning. I suppose the obvious thing was to run both!
FB - parkrun will always stay 5k run in parks pure and simple. Anything more interesting just takes too much time and effort every week from the volunteers organising the event.
But there are plenty of club organised races that only charge enough to cover race costs. I can't imagine who wants to pay £40 to shuffle along in a "Great" Run.
Good spot Danbert but I think that was a one-off to tie in with a Nike Race the World day. The exception that proves the rule.
Seriously, if anyone has any reservations about parkrun please just go and try one.
If I have no fell race planned for a weekend I nip along to Hyde Park in Leeds and do their park run. Done 25 of them now.
I know Leeds City A.C organise a 3 race series over exactly the same course in the summer, whether it is impacting on them at all I dont know.
I just use them as time trials, I doubt the majority of the runners would enter a race anyway.
At least it gets people off the sofa and encourages them to get active.
I haven't done a park run yet, although I'm intending to get down to Endcliffe Park in Sheffield and run one there in the near future, I think they are all 5ks.
For established runners they seem to be a good way of varying the routine, maybe utilising them as an additional threshold (or whatever) session. That seems to be the feedback I've heard, and that is how I'll be approaching it.
For newer runners, they seem to be providing a useful and convenient entry point into racing and the notion of running 'en-mass'. We've certainly had a couple of new runners at Porter Valley that have done the park runs, got the bug and now want to take things to the next level, as in start running with other people, vary their training and start running other and more varied races. A couple of them have even expressed an interest in venturing out onto the fells.
I think on that basis they are a good thing.
Ian, don't, I'm gutted I haven't made it so far - race before last I got stuck in traffic getting over (turns out Paul was late too and ran solo anyway so I could have tagged along with him), and this Monday just gone was the day after my one road half marathon of the year which I absolutely battered so I was feeling a bit on the tender side this week. Now I notice the next one is the day after FTOP!! Or is that on the Saturday? I'm off to check and if so, book an hour off work to make sure I get there in time...
...And it is! Excellent! I bought the new headtorch specifically for the Winter Series so it'll finally get some proper action!
Good news for North West parkrunners, another 3 are being planned at Sale Water Park, Pennington Flash and Liverpool
Bloody hell i notice it was a bit sharp at the front end of park run this morning!!! :w00t:
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/heaton/Res...stResults.aspx
Shame on Andi, not going to the National ;)
Not sure why the others didn't do the National but I wasn't doing it weeks ago. Done very little XC this year and needed to get some good training in for a forth coming marathon. By the look at Alton Towers it looked a mud bath, so made up for it today by heading out in some muddy farmers fields in Saddleworth!!!
Yes they did, Salford men were 36th.
Just noticed that Parkrun comes to Pennington Flash next week.
Saturday 12th March 2011 at 09:00.
According to mailout from Bradford park run, over 10,000 people did the various park runs on saturday. Are they destructive, if that many get out of bed and have a go, can't be bad...
They're clearly a force of ultimate evil, all those cheeky people going out and err using a public park. Those bastards!! :)
I think they're a great idea in all seriousness, I think they are a good way of getting people into running and joining a club etc. which always leads to people doing more organised races anyway.
Is the Heaton Park parkrun the reason that the Salford 5K has been moved to a Sunday this year?
This morning there were 85 runners in Salford Harriers 'traditional' 5K in Heaton Park
Yesterday Parkrun had the following attendances in Greater Manchester
Bolton Leverhulme - 107 runners
Stockport Bramhall - 367 runners
Manchester Heaton Park - 260 runners
Oldham Alexandra Park - 65 runners
Leigh Pennington Flash - 41 runners
Manchester Platt Fields - 210 runners
Stockport Woodbank Park - 75 runners
Sale Water Park parkrun starts soon too.
Parkruns destructive, pernicious, harmful and damaging to our club events or a welcome addition to the calendar? :confused:
Danbert, out of interest, how many runners did the Salford traditional 5k attract in the past before parkruns became popular? The various parkruns seem to attract over a thousand runners. Surely no bad thing?
I don't see them as destructive at all, they're a great way for beginners to try racing without feeling to pressured by club runners. I ran hyde park in Leeds yesterday and was talking to a few members of our Absolute beginners group (Run-in-Leeds) who were thinking of entering our local Club races just after finishing. Could be a coincidence, or it could be that after completing their first race they now felt more comfortable entering a proper race.
Horses for courses, but I don't see them as a problem.
2010 = 100
2009 = 135
2008 = 150
2007 = 149
2006 = 161
Perhaps Park Run is the way forward - but Salford Harriers pay in to UKA and their race will also pay in via the permit insurance.
That money they are paying in is being used to cover the costs of the Park Runs - that's not right in my opinion.
Look at the results (and the depth of the field) from 1993 there are a few forumites amongst the 270 runners too :thumbup:
http://www.ukresults.net/1993/sal5k.html
Wow, my 17:54 PB would only have got me 111th place :w00t:
A professional website andthe need to pay local councils for the use of the park would indicate that there is substantial funding for Parkrun.
Who is paying Parkrun? Are England Athletics putting money into this organisation?
Who are the people organising Parkrun? Are they part of the athletic establishment?
What is the background for the founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Sinton-Hewitt
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parkrun
This is correct Witton - parkrun gets its insurance cover for free whilst we the clubs have to chip up. Also Local Government is putting up the costs and reducing the assistance it offers to us the affiliated clubs (who in many cases develop youth athletics) whilst giving subsidies to Park Run. It's not a level playing field and to be honest it's p*ssing me off :angry: