Discussion
Master Bean said:
New Women's record of 15:13 in Belfast. 1st parkrun too.
Only 97% age grade, so room for improvement 
She also won NI Sports Personality on Friday, so had a good weekend! There were a lot of quick times so I guess the awards do was nearby and the athletes all went to parkrun.
Paul Carty must have been gutted - ran a PB of 15:45 and was only 10th
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/belfastvictoria/results...
I was mostly RD (my daughter took over while I ran) - record attendance of 913, funnel backed up but I'd primed the timers to have a virtual finish line at the back of the queue, so they walked 100m out as the queue built, then 100m back as it thinned out!
Fortunately lots of the core team were there and were doing useful things left right and centre! Sigh of relief all round when it calmed down.
Despite being a very busy 3 lap course, the leader ran15:48.
Much quieter than Bushy, who had 2447
Fortunately lots of the core team were there and were doing useful things left right and centre! Sigh of relief all round when it calmed down.
Despite being a very busy 3 lap course, the leader ran15:48.
Much quieter than Bushy, who had 2447
BenB91 said:
It's very addictive! I've only completed 3 runs but i've spent far too long looking at my stats.
Do (or don't if it'll make you spend even more time looking at stats ) get Running Challenges Chrome extension and/or The 5k App. They give more comprehensive stats, but definitely come with an addiction warning!46 runs in 2023, beating my previous record of 45, one year I'll have to opt out of Run Directing so I get to 50!
Also 18 different events, just need 9 more to get to 100 and got my age grading over 60% - used to be over 70 but <insert standard list of runner excuses> 60 is the new 70 these days!
My home event has a day off today so looking forward to running somewhere that I have no responsibility, going to the "gently undulating" Bevendean Down which will have ~100 people and not Hove park who might have 900.
Also 18 different events, just need 9 more to get to 100 and got my age grading over 60% - used to be over 70 but <insert standard list of runner excuses> 60 is the new 70 these days!
My home event has a day off today so looking forward to running somewhere that I have no responsibility, going to the "gently undulating" Bevendean Down which will have ~100 people and not Hove park who might have 900.
BenB91 said:
My first Park Run parkrun was early December with a time of 25 mins 37 seconds. I wasn't expecting to make such progress each week.
You'll make rapid progress for a few weeks then get to the point where you have to decide if that's good enough or if you want to do more training during the week. There isn't a right answer, some people are happy with jogging round each week, others train hard every day.Alex@POD said:
The course can make a lot of difference. .
^ This - I was 3 mins faster yesterday than Monday for similar effort; hilly grass (short!) course / flat tarmac. Despite parkrun websites saying they are accurately measured, they vary, so a PB only applies to that course.Mankers said:
Don’t let age put you off, give your self a chance! I was still putting in PB’s at the age of 49
I starting running again at 52 after 25 years off, and my PB was at 60 (71 % age grade) so definitely don't let age put you off. ben5575 said:
.. once again injured myself ...
Running is what we do to occupy the time between injuries Rocup 5k sounds like a rather high level of t
ttery - I guess they have some sort of grudge against parkrun and protest by turning up early. Seems a bit stupid, there are plenty of other times and places they could run.
Presumably they don't appreciate/care that parkrun have permission from the landowner and they don't.
Anyway, we had a quiet day today with 'only' 624 finishers... apart from 1 scanner deleting scans before submitting, finish tokens giving out 1 to 600 then picking up the wrong string and carrying on from 800 and our 84 yr old regular stopping after half a lap and being taken to hospital with chest pains (breathing not heart fortunately) just a normal morning!
I was pleased with 27:59 - not absolutely certain it's correct but not going to complain!
ttery - I guess they have some sort of grudge against parkrun and protest by turning up early. Seems a bit stupid, there are plenty of other times and places they could run.Presumably they don't appreciate/care that parkrun have permission from the landowner and they don't.
Anyway, we had a quiet day today with 'only' 624 finishers... apart from 1 scanner deleting scans before submitting, finish tokens giving out 1 to 600 then picking up the wrong string and carrying on from 800 and our 84 yr old regular stopping after half a lap and being taken to hospital with chest pains (breathing not heart fortunately) just a normal morning!
I was pleased with 27:59 - not absolutely certain it's correct but not going to complain!
Cybertronian said:
Disappointing behaviour, and disappointing that they weren't banned with immediate effect. Can only assume they didn't have enough to ID the runner. I hope the volunteer is seasoned enough that they don't jack it in due to the actions of one.
Out of curiosity, what does banning somebody from parkrun look like? Removal from the system, though nothing to stop them returning to the event under a different ID, or them citing they're just in the park on a solo run?
HQ can remove them but too easy to re-register although they be brave to go the the same event again!
I spent Friday eve with some of HQ staff and core team people from Sussex - they do regional visits which gives teams the opportunity to ask questions and learn what's going on globally.
No major news
- for those who process results or add volunteers remember that FMS (old system) will be turned off in March so you'll have to use EMS. There are still some teams that have never used EMS, they'll be getting emails to warn them.
- France, still waiting for the French sports ministry or whoever it is to make the announcement the medical certs are no longer required. PSH said that when France started they knew they were on dodgy ground but the buck stopped with him and he was prepared to take the risk that he'd be sued/jailed if there was an incident but when parkrun became a charity the buck stopped with the Trustees who weren't.
Saturday I ran at Squerreys winery, near (Clackett Lane services) which was one of the closest to home I hadn't done. Nice run round fields and between the vines, would be a mudfest after rain, a bit squidgy in places despite no rain and frozen ground.
No major news
- for those who process results or add volunteers remember that FMS (old system) will be turned off in March so you'll have to use EMS. There are still some teams that have never used EMS, they'll be getting emails to warn them.
- France, still waiting for the French sports ministry or whoever it is to make the announcement the medical certs are no longer required. PSH said that when France started they knew they were on dodgy ground but the buck stopped with him and he was prepared to take the risk that he'd be sued/jailed if there was an incident but when parkrun became a charity the buck stopped with the Trustees who weren't.
Saturday I ran at Squerreys winery, near (Clackett Lane services) which was one of the closest to home I hadn't done. Nice run round fields and between the vines, would be a mudfest after rain, a bit squidgy in places despite no rain and frozen ground.
yellowjack said:
Question, though. I collected token number 302 at the finish. My result says 303rd. Not a big enough issue to want to "sort it out", but just curious as to how that happens. A finisher not scanning their barcode, perhaps?
Short answer - People do things wrong, results are best fix based on things that are wrong.Long answer - There are a few things that can be wrong
- Timers tap phone for everyone who crosses the line and this creates a list of times and positions - timers sometimes tap an extra time or miss one.
- Runners duck out of the funnel between finish line and tokens which moves everyone forward 1 place.
- Token sorters last week didn't spot a missing one or put them in wrong order or 2 stuck together when given out.
When we process results, we load the (possibly inaccurate) timer file and scanner files (possibly dodgy due to funnel duckers or token issues), and do our best to adjust for errors.
Only moved 1 place counts as a win from an RD point of view!
On a good week there are the same number of times as positions
other weeks there are positions or times left over at the bottom of the list and we to guess where to add/delete and time/position to get it as close to right as we can.
Results are generally quite good considering it's a fairly low tech system!
Cybertronian said:
- Stopwatch Bingo
- Alphabeteer
- parkrun Tourism:
Fortunately by the time I first heard of stopwatch bingo, I'd already completed it - a very frustrating challenge because how ever hard you try to cross the line at an exact time there's no guarantee the timers will have hit the button at the same time as you and then the RD might adjust the results and move you up or down a bit.- Alphabeteer
- parkrun Tourism:
Long gap between 100 and 250 - it's even longer after 250 - I'm on 442! And after 500 it's FOREVER!! Hopefully I'll live long enough to get to 1000 but it's a very long term plan!
Alphabet completed last year with some of the difficult letters - Valentines, Zuiderpark and Queen Elizabeth.
One of my current targets is getting to 100 different events, now on 92 so should do it this year.
In other news, course and age category records have been removed from event web pages today. I assume as a result of the fuss made about trans people setting female records.
No announcement about it to event teams - maybe HQ will get round to it one day!
Won't make much difference to the enjoyment on a Saturday morning but I'm pleased our oldest regular managed to set our VM85-89 last Saturday, 2 days after his 85th birthday. He'll be disappointed the records have gone as he'd set out his stall to tour round and grab as many V85 records as he could.
No announcement about it to event teams - maybe HQ will get round to it one day!
Won't make much difference to the enjoyment on a Saturday morning but I'm pleased our oldest regular managed to set our VM85-89 last Saturday, 2 days after his 85th birthday. He'll be disappointed the records have gone as he'd set out his stall to tour round and grab as many V85 records as he could.
Course length - despite the website saying they are all accurately measured with a professional measuring wheel, they aren't. Some have been measured by UK athletics approved course measurers and are very close, some with a wheel by the team or ambassador to the best of their ability and may or may not be close and I wouldn't be surprised if some were by Garmin and could be not at all close, never mind marshals putting cones in the wrong place or the exact position of a turn being gradually lost as it's passed on over the years as teams member change..
I suspect that if all courses were surveyed using the most accurate possible method they would vary quite a lot and off road courses are very difficult to measure accurately.
On top of all that, Garmins aren't accurate, if you looked at everyone's distance there would be quite a variation.
We just have to accept that courses are all somewhere around 5k and whether they are right or not, start and finish are where they are and that's what we're timed for. Each event will (should!) be the same length each week but not necessarily the same length as each other!
If you want an exact distance you have to pay enter a race. Oh Hang on...Brighton Marathon, Manchester half......
I suspect that if all courses were surveyed using the most accurate possible method they would vary quite a lot and off road courses are very difficult to measure accurately.
On top of all that, Garmins aren't accurate, if you looked at everyone's distance there would be quite a variation.
We just have to accept that courses are all somewhere around 5k and whether they are right or not, start and finish are where they are and that's what we're timed for. Each event will (should!) be the same length each week but not necessarily the same length as each other!
If you want an exact distance you have to pay enter a race. Oh Hang on...Brighton Marathon, Manchester half......
Sorry, haven't had time to read all the posts, the amount of stuff in the media has rather overwhelmed me and I've stopped reading/listening!
But
Also (this may have been covered already) I think the objection from womens rights group isn't just about trans people (even though that's the thing in the headlines) it's that any of us could register as female (or 85-90) and set records; they want parkrun to stop people self selecting their gender - how you do that I have no idea, it's not practical to check 9,000,000 registered runners, and even if they employed an army of people, how do you check? Birth certificates can be photoshopped and checking for the presence/absence of a cock and Adam's apple isn't going to go down well
Trans people, and any one else, have the option to register as Other or Prefer not to say but there's no way to force them to chose one of those.
I suspect that .001% of the population is trans and .001% of those run and .001% of those might set a record, so in round term there's 2/10ths of bugger all chance that the 100s of records they claim to be set by men are by trans men, they're more likely 'real' men who because of fat fingers or thinking it doesn't matter or that it's a bit of a lark to register as a girl and set records.
Anyway. lets just get to the park/prom/field wherever tomorrow and enjoy it
But
Someone said:
"parkrun push their results data through to British Athletics where all results are recorded in the powerof10 and Run Britain websites.
I believe that POT and RB 'suck' the results from parkrun rather than parkrun 'blow' it to them. Also (this may have been covered already) I think the objection from womens rights group isn't just about trans people (even though that's the thing in the headlines) it's that any of us could register as female (or 85-90) and set records; they want parkrun to stop people self selecting their gender - how you do that I have no idea, it's not practical to check 9,000,000 registered runners, and even if they employed an army of people, how do you check? Birth certificates can be photoshopped and checking for the presence/absence of a cock and Adam's apple isn't going to go down well
Trans people, and any one else, have the option to register as Other or Prefer not to say but there's no way to force them to chose one of those.
I suspect that .001% of the population is trans and .001% of those run and .001% of those might set a record, so in round term there's 2/10ths of bugger all chance that the 100s of records they claim to be set by men are by trans men, they're more likely 'real' men who because of fat fingers or thinking it doesn't matter or that it's a bit of a lark to register as a girl and set records.
Anyway. lets just get to the park/prom/field wherever tomorrow and enjoy it
resolve10 said:
LastPoster said:
I'm not a bit interested in being a competitive runner or measuring myself against others
I do have an unshakable competitive element in me, but I've just adjusted what I'm competing with. I'm not even competing with myself anymore, because I once ran a good 5 minutes quicker than my current best, but it's racing against my current self, and other average 37 year olds! MesoForm said:
Take a trip down to Bushy Park, and tick off the "Where it all started" achievement?
I have a friend up to 260 parkruns and still can't get the last one for stopwatch bingo, I have offered to be timekeeper and let him know when to cross the line but he wants to do it properly!
Bushy is an option, although my mate has done it so we'll probably do an event we both 'need'. I have a friend up to 260 parkruns and still can't get the last one for stopwatch bingo, I have offered to be timekeeper and let him know when to cross the line but he wants to do it properly!
I've really got lucky with stopwatch bingo. I'm on half as many parkruns as your friend but only need :02, :09, :15 & :19 to complete.
resolve10 said:
RizzoTheRat said:
We have someone who has tailwalked a couple of times but not scanned as she doesn't want to reduce her average time 
Haha, I think I'd rather rack up the number of parkruns than worry about the average time! Fair play to her though!Me too, I've tail walked or done slow pacing when I'm injured or the day before a race, don't care what my average is.
Last week I did Victoria Dock, my friend who was scanning said the leader was a long way ahead and went the wrong way (not sure how, there were plenty of marshals and it's a quite straightforward route), the vols shouted to him and instead of going the right way, he swore a lot and stomped off!
keo said:
What are peoples opinion on people treating parkrun like a race? They need to get the best time etc. I haven’t done one but a few mates were talking about who do them and they said some of the behaviour is a bit off for what should be a fun run as such. Pushing, full race kit super shoes moaning about slow runners etc.
Doesn’t sound fun to me and if you are taking it that seriously pay and do a proper race I think.
It’s kind of even put me off trying a parkrun.
If you haven't been, how do you know? Just give it a go. There may be a few people who're over competitive but very few, we don't have a problem with our 600 finishers.Doesn’t sound fun to me and if you are taking it that seriously pay and do a proper race I think.
It’s kind of even put me off trying a parkrun.
Bushy today!
I've done it a few times before, but had friends who wanted to, we struggled to find a date we could all go and could be reasonably sure of good weather...were very lucky that it was beautiful day so we could sit outside the Pheasantry for coffee afterwards.
Just a normal Bushy day with 1604 finishers
I've done it a few times before, but had friends who wanted to, we struggled to find a date we could all go and could be reasonably sure of good weather...were very lucky that it was beautiful day so we could sit outside the Pheasantry for coffee afterwards.
Just a normal Bushy day with 1604 finishers
5pen said:
Sounds great. I’m hoping to take part at Bushy sometime this summer - just need to avoid their 1,000th event (currently scheduled for 31st August) as I expect that will be even more manic.
By the way, what are the logistics like? I’ll have to drive - are the traffic and parking anything to worry about?
Weeks to avoid (unless you want to be there with the crowds!) are 999th, 1000th and 20th birthday on 5 October. They're expecting maybe 3000 By the way, what are the logistics like? I’ll have to drive - are the traffic and parking anything to worry about?
Traffic - no problem, there aren't many people going anywhere other than parkrun first thing on Saturday, we did 50 miles from Brighton in an hour.
Parking - we arrived at 8.30 and the carpark near start was already full, there's no on road parking in the park but plenty of space at Hampton Court Green car park on the A308 10 mins walk from start, 1.50/hr pay by phone or cash.
There is other parking in the park but that probably gets full as well.
Gassing Station | Sports | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff