Discussion
Alex@POD said:
Can you have a word with your run director friends and get them to declare if they're doing a Christmas parkrun or not? Trying to decide where to stop on the way to the in-laws but the list is very bare at the moment!
Decision deadline isn't until 15 December so it might be a while before you find out. Any events who haven't posted a decision by then are set to No.
A big reason for not declaring until quite late is volunteers - the Core Team vols, Run Director and Vol Co, are easy to decide, it's timers, scanners, marshals, tokens who (not unreasonably) don't sign up until the last minute, even at 15/12 we have to make the Go No Go decision without knowing if we'll have enough and as we expect 6/7/800 we have to have a full roster.
RizzoTheRat said:
Damn, I've only managed 8 of the current list of 22 (?) countries, the list's growing faster than I'm managing to tour 
It does amaze me how many people are obsessed with parkrun tourism. We get a lot of tourists and I can't help thinking the 'nomad' tourists who are trying to do a different one every week are missing out on a big part of parkrun.
With an event starting with Z you'll always get tourists! Some of my friends were there last week and I regularly see FB posts from people who're going to visit you. Could be worse, your park might have been an X, then you'd be really busy with tourists!It does amaze me how many people are obsessed with parkrun tourism. We get a lot of tourists and I can't help thinking the 'nomad' tourists who are trying to do a different one every week are missing out on a big part of parkrun.
Agree that nomads miss out on making friends at a home event but as long as they're happy I guess it's OK. Completing the Alphabet, or every country I can see but the ones that strain my brain are Fibonacci series or Nelson (111,222,333...) WTF!
Stephanie Plum said:
A question for the run directors on here. Are you experiencing any challenges with very slow walkers making no effort to improve since the parkwalk campaign?
No. Finish time still 55/60 mins - we have a faster course than you - flat tarmac!KTF said:
The RD vest has been black/silver for a while 
RD is one of the least Vis HiVis ever seen (or not!) We used to have an orange one, so the RD stood out from other vols but went with the branding of the new one. If someone wants to speak to the RD it's very difficult to spot them amongst runners who are also wearing black or silver kit.My moan at the moment is the dick who thinks it's funny to register with names that are rude, stupid or offensive - he started as <his surname> the f
ker, when we deleted him and he emailed to ask why he wasn't in the results, we explained and he changed to sti Wring-Pease so we deleted him again and reported to HQ who deleted all his old registrations - they were made from the same email so could be identified.
Nearly every week he re-registers, so far we’ve spotted Tess Tick-Hall, Belle Hend, Mike Oxlong and Ivor Chris-Peacock and a few more I've forgotten.
If I knew who he was I'd borrow a dog on a long lead and trip him up
ker, when we deleted him and he emailed to ask why he wasn't in the results, we explained and he changed to sti Wring-Pease so we deleted him again and reported to HQ who deleted all his old registrations - they were made from the same email so could be identified. Nearly every week he re-registers, so far we’ve spotted Tess Tick-Hall, Belle Hend, Mike Oxlong and Ivor Chris-Peacock and a few more I've forgotten.
If I knew who he was I'd borrow a dog on a long lead and trip him up
MesoForm said:
There seem to be lots of 'Unknowns' at the tail end on the results pages too so a lot of the walkers aren't getting involved with counting their events, etc.
You may be correct but also unknowns at the end can be caused by the number of tokens and timer clicks being out of sync - if there are funnel duckers and the results processor doesn't fix it then there are times left over at the end with no people to go with them, or maybe the RD inserted unknowns just before the tailwalker in order to get their time correct.juniors
Yes, I volunteer at juniors, my kids are in their 20s. Most parents don't volunteer as they're looking after/watching their kids so they definitely need us to help.
Cancellations
Remember (I'd forgotten!) that cancellations get listed here www.parkrun.org.uk/cancellations. It's also worth checking the facebook and twitter for the event you're going to.
Yes, I volunteer at juniors, my kids are in their 20s. Most parents don't volunteer as they're looking after/watching their kids so they definitely need us to help.
Cancellations
Remember (I'd forgotten!) that cancellations get listed here www.parkrun.org.uk/cancellations. It's also worth checking the facebook and twitter for the event you're going to.
Preston Park cancelled so decision to make between Bevendean and East Brighton, fortunately chose Bev as EB cancelled part way through when the air ambulance landed!
First time it's ever happened during the run, last time it was just as the last runners finished. (It's near the hospital and is used for incoming patients)
First time it's ever happened during the run, last time it was just as the last runners finished. (It's near the hospital and is used for incoming patients)
RizzoTheRat said:
I had a lie in. Only 2 parkruns went ahead in the entire country, the nearest being 1.5 hours away. My second nearest would have been in Germany.
Someone I was chatting to yesterday told me their friends (from UK) went to Zuiderpark yesterday only to find it was cancelled! Seems a bit mad to plan an international tourist trip in December, but maybe (hopefully) they had another reason to be there as well. When we cancel, we mail that weeks vols using the vol reminder but also using the volunteer appeal to tell those people who are opted in - it's not a large number, but it's some... we posted recently to ask people to opt in so that they get the cancellation mail which means they also get the volunteer appeal!
Also, update on France which give a good explanation of what's going on. https://blog.parkrun.com/fr/2022/12/21/parkrun-fra...
Also, update on France which give a good explanation of what's going on. https://blog.parkrun.com/fr/2022/12/21/parkrun-fra...
KTF said:
I am always deeply impressed when someone turns up, run round like their hair is on fire and then strolls around at the end like it was no effort at all.
No idea if it is genetics, years of training, actually doing stretches after each run like you are meant to or something else all together.
I think most people can be good by doing lot of training but to be great also needs the right genes!No idea if it is genetics, years of training, actually doing stretches after each run like you are meant to or something else all together.
No run for me on 25th as was run director, first finisher 'only' managed 15:32, last Christmas was 14:50! 572 finishers, lots of vols, pacers, quite a few watchers, tail came in at 1:07 All packed up and heading home by 10:20.
MesoForm said:
Is there a quick way of getting that data? It's the bottom 3 I can't see on the purple 5k app or the parkrun website.
If you download the Running Challenges Chrome Extension and look at your record you get more run data, but not volunteering, the only way I know to see your vol records is by someone logging in to the Event Management system. I don't use any of the apps so don't know what they show.My summary
- Total parkruns = 44
- Total volunteer = 41 (juniors + 5k + lots of week day, pre and post event things)
- Events visited = 13
- Events visited for the first time = 8
- PB 27:53 (60.13%) up from 22:20 (71.19 %)
wrencho said:
We've just had a new PR open up within about 400 metres of my house so seemed rude not to give it a bash. 19.44 on a trail course in road shoes (d'oh) wasn't too shabby. Forgotten how much I love the mix of runners at PR. Will deffo be back....in the right footwear!!
That's very generous of them to set it up so close It's interesting you mention the mix of runners - I saw a faceache comment this week on a post about the Aussie woman who beat the (6 day old) parkrun record, they said something like '..this is totally not what parkrun is about..". I try not to respond too much on fb but felt obliged to point out that parkrun is 'totally' about all sort of things ranging from an Elite enjoying a thrash round to the old/unfit/overweight or whatever person shuffling round at the back.
It's not like there are loads of elites turning up every week to use it as a training camp, it's fairly rare that they do because it won't fit their plan and it's a bit risky running with kids, dogs, buggies & muggles if you're training for the Olympics!
RizzoTheRat said:
There's a right bunch of lunatics on some of the parkrun facebook groups.
How does anyone remember where they ran 7 years ago, and why does it suddenly matter now but it didn't then?
It used to be that we could edit old results but now we can only go back 10 weeks, beyond that you have to contact HQ - I had someone mail recently who'd just realised they'd scanned their kid's barcode instead of theirs, but it was 12 weeks ago.
RizzoTheRat said:
There's a right bunch of lunatics on some of the parkrun facebook groups.
Talking of lunatics! 2 inaugurals this weekend, 1 near Edinburgh, 1 west of London, 600 and 400 runners.There are so many people who are so self entitled that they think they should go to inaugurals. I feel sorry for the event teams who had to handle them, I was stressed enough at the inaugurals I was RD for and they only had 100 and 200, 600 is well into overloaded funnel territory if you aren't geared up for it.
Gary29 said:
I just registered with Parkrun and was considering rocking up to a 'race' at the weekend, but reading the last few pages, I don't think I'll bother if this is the type of people I can expect to rub shoulders with 
Why is Joe Public so damn crazy?!
Don't be put off - 97% of people wander down to their local parkrun, have a run/walk/jog/chat/coffee etc, wander off home and don't think about it much until they wake up the next Saturday but 3% get obsessive about things that aren't really that important. You may well never meet any of the 3%, we only see/hear about them because we're involved in volunteering / organising the events.Why is Joe Public so damn crazy?!
These figures may not be accurate seeing that I just made them up
cslwannabe said:
Even if they’ve had a practice event (do all new events do this automatically?) I don’t imagine it fully prepares them for several hundred people turning up to event #1.
New event teams do a take over at an existing event (we scared the bejasus out of a new ED when she took us over and we had 600! Her event gets about 80 so she finds it easy in comparison.) and do a trial which has to be at 9 (Eng and Wal) on Saturday - trial events used to be at other times so people didn't miss a real run but it was decided that they need to be at the right time to be sure no one was playing football, riding horses etc across the route.Nothing prepares you for several hundred other than having done it!
Check Tunbridge Wells pics! "muddier than a Hippo's swimming pool"
https://www.facebook.com/royaltunbridgewellsparkru...
https://www.facebook.com/royaltunbridgewellsparkru...
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