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Apr 2019
9:16am, 24 Apr 2019
17,498 posts
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Dvorak
I have lots of thoughts around that, jda. First is that more events seldom seems to solve the congestion issue. Glasgow is a case in point. Two busy to congested parkruns, three not so busy ones and one with low numbers (which is a special case in location and difficulty). In Edinburgh, the first parkrun got very busy and people were put off: a second started and runners returned, a third started in a satellite town - all three are now often super-busy.
Another is that, for all parkrun HQs rhetoric, parkrun is a lot more successful at attracting runners than volunteers. The community aspect, I'd argue, is in many cases peripheral: people turn up, run* and leave. The bigger the event, the more this is the case.
* This, despite HQs ambitions, being what nearly all (97% ?) of timed participants do.
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Apr 2019
9:29am, 24 Apr 2019
17,499 posts
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Dvorak
On Meglet's point: I'm sure parkrun can continue to grow. In Scotland, there could be double the number of parkruns. Most however would be in smaller, unserved places (as most of Scotland's recent events have been). And, I suspect, started by runners who primarily wanted a local parkrun, rather then a local community event.
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Apr 2019
9:30am, 24 Apr 2019
27,742 posts
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DocMoye
@Jda fountains was lovely but running at around the 26 min mark this week it would have been impossible to have been running for a PB. The finish was ok but the start was walking only and then careful running. The clientele were a top lot though so everyone I encountered was fine about it. Some other parkruns I've done would have been less well tempered in The circumstances.
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Apr 2019
9:40am, 24 Apr 2019
4,328 posts
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jda
Nevertheless a quick glance at the results indicates plenty of PBs around the 26 min mark. FA may be a bit of a special case with people visiting specifically so they can visit FA, not something you can say about most (any?) other parkrun sites.
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Apr 2019
9:53am, 24 Apr 2019
20,193 posts
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Meglet
As an event gets bigger you need more volunteers but there still seems to be regular shouts to fill blank roles. At Wetherby we often doubled up so someone could marshal the first lap then return for scanning or timing! We could just about run with 6 volunteers.
I have to admit to not volunteering recently but then I rarely run these days. What’s the current volunteer/run ratio? They used to suggest people needed to volunteer three times a year.
I have to admit that the rise of walkers has slightly put me off volunteering. We’d be finished after 35m at Wetherby, but the thought of standing out for another 20 mins in all weathers isn’t so attractive
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Apr 2019
10:18am, 24 Apr 2019
10,322 posts
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Cerrertonia
Dvorak, I don't think your 97% for turn-up & leave would be true at say Cambridge - judging by the queues for the cafe afterwards. Can easily take longer to get coffee than to do the run. I think that's true of other local parkruns with a nice cafe too.
Haverhill parkrun, where I also regularly run, often has fewer than 50 people, no cafe or any facilities, but I would say almost everyone there are talking to others before the start and at the end, so again I think the community aspect is happening.
Numbers are self-limiting to some extent. I know several people who don't run at Cambridge because it's too busy, the other parkruns in the area have mitigated that somewhat.
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Apr 2019
10:21am, 24 Apr 2019
18,572 posts
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DeeGee
They no longer suggest a volunteer to run ratio as people get all pissy about being "forced to volunteer".
I can do Cleethorpes with 2 marshals, a sign, clock, tokens and a scanner. 5 in total. Wouldn't fancy that with 250 runners though.
We hoped that when Market Rasen Racecourse started up, it might take some of the pressure off us, but instead we've ended up with 2 events of 200-300 people instead of just the one. Likewise, if I can get moving forward on the event I'm toying with in Grimsby, I'd expect the couple of hundred people from postcodes west of Grimsby who have registered with parkrun but don't regularly attend because of the 40 minute round trip to Cleethorpes to be running that rather than necessarily taking people from Cleethorpes.
And that will be, pretty much, both available venues in North East Lincolnshire used, all the other green spaces are too small...
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Apr 2019
11:06am, 24 Apr 2019
17,501 posts
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Dvorak
Ah, I expressed myself poorly. Estimate 97% run, rather than walk. Not that 97% rush off.
I think there is more community at smaller runs, but it does not increase in proportion as runs grow.
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Apr 2019
11:08am, 24 Apr 2019
10,331 posts
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Cerrertonia
Ah, sorry, I see what you meant.
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Apr 2019
11:10am, 24 Apr 2019
6,061 posts
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Jovi Runner
Yes, it's not the done thing now to suggest people volunteer. As numbers get bigger I;d have thought encouraging the volunteering was the way to go. I do get disillussiond from time to time as it is now so far from how things started& so far from the aim to build a community spirit. That said, my home parkrun still operates very much along "old school" lines but that's mainly due to the nature of the RD core team.
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Cambridge Parkrun
Dec 2024