Are Park Runs Destructive ?

[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.

[Antisocial]

As one of the original points to this thread was that park may detrimentally affect the number of runners at fell events, is it worth pointing out that there have been many discussions on this forum about the fact we don't want the sport to expand too much in order to protect the environment etc.

[RYEPIE]

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.

is that because clubs are a profit making organisation and the parkruns are not???

[dylan]

the club runners who use the park runs use them as a sustained training session,on a measured route,which is timed,in a safe atmostphere,at a time that enables normal family life to continue the rest of the weekend.when the 'proper'races come along they are better prepared and perform with the knowledge the hard work has been done.
as much as we would all like to race every weekend at every available opportunity we have families to think of.
i work shifts so any kind of quality session is a bonus,park runs allow that,but if time allows i will always pick a race.
my own thoughts are use them to your own advantage,even to the point of recruiting new members.
its only the same as a football club seeing a talented individual kicking the ball around in the park and getting him/her to join a well organised set up.

[RunningBob]

I've just caught up with this thread. I started and organise Bramhall parkrun which in turn encouraged the other Manchester parkruns so I'm in a position to answer some of the points raised. As a runner I also use the parkrun in the same way as Dylan and have completed over 50.
First I'd suggest that whether you feel positive or negative about parkruns just have a go at one first. You can get an impression from this video (Bramhall 9 Oct).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGqoHg8BEuQ

So, Wasdale it aint! And it isn't going to ever compete with a XC fixture or real 10k race. It is a free training race for club runners. And for many novice runners it is a way of progressing beyond one off attempts at GMR, Race For Life etc. to doing something more regular and competitive. For all it is low key running fun that doesn't take up much time.

I was certainly originally concerned that a free weekly race might detract from the efforts of local clubs. In practice though the reverse is true. Wilmslow RC and Stockport Harriers have gained about 20 members each from the event. We always promote club races and the experience so far is that numbers at Wilmslow races at least have increased with runners recruited at the parkrun. Good athletes have been brought into club running and club races including some who are returning after years out of the sport.

parkrun doesn't receive any special treatment. I just applied to the park to hold an event in the same way as anyone else and had to provide the same H&S documentation etc. The council chose not to charge for use of the park as we're not charging the runners and clearly they see the health benefits.

UKA provide the standard insurance as they do for any affiliated club race. parkrun is just treated as an affiliated club. These days the unattached £2 levy is kept by the race organiser rather than paid to UKA so the fact that we don't charge is irrelevant for UKA funding. And FWIW parkrun receives no direct public funding.

Finally, there are actually very few local 5k races. The Cheshire series (Bowdon, Dunham Massey etc.) is a sell out. Salford 5k is the exception but then again that is part of a series that is supported by public funding.

[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.

[dylan]

my wife is a former schools xc champion,(1974)
two children and 35 years later she has started running.
at the park run we turned up at 08.45,short warm up,ran,finished,she was 2nd to last,we were home by 10.
like most new runners she is in awe of proper runners,and the park runs meet her low key approach.
she now has a target of not being 2nd to last,improve her time,then,and only then she wants to make the step up to 'proper races'
i think you will find most of the new runners are suffering from low self esteme,usually brought on by the arrogance of some of the elite runners.
my wife is fortunate that by watching me at fell races she has rubbed shoulders with some of the nicest runners around,yep,the fell runners.
hence her aim for fitness and the ultimate step up,to race a fell race.