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Jun 2018
10:44am, 19 Jun 2018
160 posts
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Spideog
Definitely get a sense of W1A sometimes. 
From part 2 the chat around volunteering and that it is perceived as sacrificing something for the greater good and that needs to change to be something that is positive for all was good. Not sure why he felt that people disagreed with that point though. Promote volunteering as being a good thing to do and I'm not entirely sure where the negative of doing that is that he thinks people are disagreeing with.
But that he was persisting in the claim that volunteering and running are equal physical activities is clearly nonsense and he wouldn't budge from that even when Mr Fetch gave him the get out from the daftness of the statement he just stuck his feet in and refused to notice the mistake.
An Olympic gold medal in marathon running and an Olympic gold medal in shooting are equally valuable contributions to a countries medal tally at the end of the Olympics. Anyone who claims that they are equivalent physical activities is off their rocker though. They are both physical activities, but they are most certainly not the same benefit. Which activity is more beneficial for different people is another question, but they are not the same.
Volunteering is an equal form of participation in parkrun, if not more when considering the social aspect as you have to interact someway with other people but it's perfectly possible to have next to zero interaction with others as a running/ walking parkrunner. They are both physical activities. They are not in any way equivalent physical activities though.
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Jun 2018
10:48am, 19 Jun 2018
1,680 posts
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Goofee
blindcider, I agree with the point about it not being the fast runners but more anxiety about their own performance which worries folk. I vividly remember sitting in my car before my first parkrun willing myself not to drive off as I was convinced I would be last by miles and holding everyone up. I had already run a few races (including a marathon) by that point, albeit nothing in the previous two years, but I was 17 stone and well out of condition.
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Jun 2018
11:40am, 19 Jun 2018
5,070 posts
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larkim
I listened on the way home last night. I do think TW is right about volunteering, but there are good chunks of people who do characterise volunteering as "giving something back" or some sort of obligation to balance out the benefit you've achieved by being able to run it. In fact, I've heard that opinion on here many times, and if I was honest with myself on the few occasions I've volunteered I've done it because I personally feel that twang of guilt. I don't particularly enjoy volunteering for volunteering's sake. But I suppose from parkrun's perspective, it is better to have a message which is "Volunteer, it's enjoyable" and let those for whom volunteering is a chore / obligation do it anyway because they will do it without more encouragement anyway.
It's the same for the faster / slower runners debate. For people for whom running and racing is an existing pastime, we'll turn up anyway - it's a free event that feels quite like a race and we'll meet fellow runners (or choose to ignore them and head off home without talking to anyone if that's your thing). parkrun's main message really has got to be one that tries to connect to those who otherwise would be harder to reach. Keep the barriers to entry low, but keep the quality of the event high, and you should be offering something that just about everyone will find palatable.
He did refuse to take the bait on "physical" activity being a poorly chosen phrase, but it's in print and he won't be the first senior executive to publicly stand by something they privately could be persuaded over a beer to suggest wasn't 100% valid.
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Jun 2018
12:04pm, 19 Jun 2018
540 posts
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Nessie
*Some* of the volunteer positions may be similar physical ability to running (or even be running) - pacing, tailwalking/running, even course set up and close down (our setter-upper goes down at 5am and puts out the cones, then runs the course to make sure it is the right distance.... and comes back later to run it in around 20 mins).
Barcode scanning, timekeeping, marshalling, etc., involve standing around for an hour or more, so is physical in some respects (the shooting v marathon running is a good analogy), but not the same.
However, for someone who has been a couch potato for years, standing around for an hour may be a physical challenge, and being around the parkrun "scene" might encourage future participation.
Maybe we are getting too hung up on semantics. Volunteers are part of the community, they put in effort (especially standing around for an hour on a sleety January morning) and even doing it because you think you should might just give you a warm smug glow for a while.
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Jun 2018
12:14pm, 19 Jun 2018
5,073 posts
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larkim
If they'd just said 'we believe volunteering can be just as good for your mind, body and soul as running or walking the parkrun course' I don't think anyone would really object. But saying it was every bit as much a physical activity as running or walking was so patently wrong they did need calling out on that.
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Jun 2018
1:04pm, 19 Jun 2018
1,090 posts
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beebop
Back to the counting volunteering as a run idea - has that been suggested? Obviously pacing and tail walking, fine, but I would be annoyed if someone at head office added my other volunteering on to my total. When I get to 250 (probably October) I want that to be 250 x 5k.
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Jun 2018
1:17pm, 19 Jun 2018
542 posts
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Nessie
I'm with you BeeBop - a 50/100/250 t-shirt is about the running, a purple 25 is about volunteering. Both good, but not the same. (but in answer to your question, I don't know if it's been an official suggestion).
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Jun 2018
1:18pm, 19 Jun 2018
161 posts
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Spideog
I've never seen anyone want the volunteering/ parkrun-maker participation to be counted together with parkrun/ walking and there are some weird ideas that pop-up on occasion on Facebook. I guess it just came from their chats about how volunteering was the same kind of physical activity as running and lead from there to them coming up with the idea of people wanting them combined.
I think they spend a bit too much time tree hugging in the parkrun HQ offices, and sometimes the trees start talking back to them.
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Jun 2018
1:31pm, 19 Jun 2018
5,074 posts
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larkim
I got the impression that parkrun HQ hadn't really been thinking about the combined run + volunteer thing much, that was more a question coming from the esteemed Lord Fetch, though some serial volunteers do feel they miss out on the high numbered t-shirts I think.
Honestly, if they'd started from the word go with "participation" as the count I doubt anyone would have complained that a 100 "participation" shirt could be earned from doing "something" at parkrun on a weekly basis, but now that the t-shirts are either run-earned or volunteer-earned there's no point in re-thinking that.
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Jun 2018
1:49pm, 19 Jun 2018
1,034 posts
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Brunski
Not wanting to join a parkrun because people say they are intimidated by faster runners? Can't see that myself.
I know some people who have 'built up' to participating in a parkrun, others have just turned up and done it as a run/walk.
Surely there are walking groups in most cities for people worried about those nasty fast runners
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