Parkruns are 5km timed runs that occur in parks all over the world (well, 23 different countries). It is a delightful story of organic growth of a good idea. Most runners, myself included, train for "big" events and are not primarily interested in the social side of running. Parkruns were started by an Englishman, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, who just wanted to have a regular, timed 5km run. The early advocates had volunteers to record times, but since then it has become more organised happening without fail at 8am on Saturdays, and now you can get your personalised barcode that you can take anywhere there's a parkrun, run and get your time. For serious runners, that's great but the unexpected benefit is that people who did not have a time as the main goal, but just wanted to have a routine social run. There will be people from all walks of life, some running, some walk/running and others just walking, chatting before, during and after.
I have friends who are regular parkrunners. Some have it has part of their purpose. Others are just in-between a focussed training plan and just want to keep the legs turning over. Others are "retired" from focussed training and just want to maintain their fitness and identity as a runner. It hasn't really played a role in my running as evinced by my meagre 13 events in almost 6 years. For me it barely had a function in my running. Saturdays were the days I wanted to run long, and if I were to do a "race" I wouldn't just participate, I would want to do it as a time trial, or if a friend was in town. This occasion it fulfilled both of these purposes.
I have run several parkruns, Cornwall Park, Owairaka, Western Springs and even in Hagley Park (although unofficially). Hobsonville Point literally had its inaugural event on the same day as I recorded my previous 5km PB on the same day at Cornwall Park, 19 mins and 54 seconds. I was always planning to check it out but almost five years later, mainly with the motivation of running at the same event as a high school friend, I went. But it also fit well in my training. I was not yet cranking up my mileage on the weekends, I wanted a bit of a measure to consolidate my understanding of my fitness and generally felt I might be in a good place to break the five year standing PB.
Before you start a 5km race, you need to have an idea of the pace you think you can maintain. For a runner, the margin of error with pace gets more difficult the shorter the event. There are calculators to figure out, based on a previous event, how fast you should be able to run. Based on Coatesville, I should be able to run 5km in the range of 19:00 to 19:30, which sounded surreal for me, maybe something in my mindset that I need to challenge. It demands a sustained sub-4 min/km pace for almost 20 minutes, when even for 10 minutes it'd be a challenge. The last kilometre of a well-paced 5km is very close to suffering.
But I had to trust my training and the information I had gained from my previous run. So after finding the course, chatting with my mate, under perfect conditions I started the run. I had imagined Hobsonville Point as a flat coastal track. I was a little bit wrong, though not hilly, it's got its fair share of undulation. And there are six sharp turns, which slow you down and force you to accelerate back to your pace. My pace for every kilometre were: 3'46" 3'59" 3'53" 4'01" 4'07" The last two kilometres were in the suffering category but I'm glad it didn't balloon as it can easily do. The final time, 19:44, just 10 seconds off my Cornwall Park PB of 2019. This was a relief but I was disappointed not to be able to hold on better to get it into the 19:00-19:30 area. But, as with my Coatesville effort, as long as I stay injury free, the signs are good for the rest of the year. I have a great foundation for all my events.
My return to Parkrun coincides with a controversy. My description above I hope shows how wholesome it started and how most people would take it. Unfortunately, any platform can be contested ground in the culture wars. Parkrun had built in records for male and female participants for their general metrics. Even though registration at Parkrun allows a range of responses to the gender question, either from suspicion or actual events, transgender females were believed to be recorded among "biological" females, which was thought to be biasing average results, taking records and introducing an element of unfairness for those who valued their statistics and standing.
I pity any organisation that suddenly has such quandary cast upon them because of the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't aspect to it. Parkrun opted out of it completely by taking away the gender aggregated statistics altogether. The topic came up with my high school friend but I hadn't followed and just said that transparency is always the best approach. After writing this, I felt more about the participation focus of such events and now think Parkrun did an appropriate move. Individual records are viewable, just not the course records by gender, or your standing within your gender. But in saying that it is silly that everything has to be contested. Those who reject transgender participants self-identifying taking part in a range of events might not have realised that since you don't generally confirm any of your details against a birth certificate, all categories of information for all but the Olympics is trusted when it is submitted.
One critic however tweeted: "Rather than give females their fair sports results from parkrun – where it would be very easy to add course records for non-binary categories, they have removed all records, I hope parkrun will listen to the fact that the vast majority want a fair sport for all based on the biological reality of the bodies we run/race/compete with." Being a cis male, I am only speculating from the sidelines, but there is no compulsion for someone who identifies contrary to their birth certificate to put "non-binary" (which would be inaccurate, anyway) and not just put what they identify as.
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