Parkrun competitors encouraged by leaderboard stats
Parkrun prepares for its 20th anniversary, but a large family that has expanded from 13 runners in Bushey -park on October 2, 2004 to more than nine million registered participants worldwide today – it's never been more hectic.
Why is Parkrun under fire?
This beloved venue has faced a variety of controversies in recent months, ranging from what constitutes competitive sport and transgender inclusivity, to whether so-called parkrun tourism should be discouraged for the sake of the environment.
There have been calls for Sport England to withdraw funding unless gender policies change and, according to a leading sports industry source, there are “serious concerns” that the campaign could undermine public confidence in one of the most effective health initiatives in the country . A separate petition calling for Parkrun to restore recently deleted performance data, which includes training records from children under 11 to people over 80, has now attracted almost 25,000 supporters.
Charges of «discrimination» have included a Scottish academic claiming the removal of numerous statistics from event pages is biased against neurodiverse people and Olympians, who claim women are still treated inappropriately by allowing them to self-gender.
Parkrun also suffered another blow earlier this month when Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer during the Covid pandemic, resigned as trustee after just a year, citing «personal reasons».
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In his farewell message, Van-Tam wished Parkrun «every success as they continue their important work to improve the health and happiness of even more people around the world.»
Sir Jonathan Van-Tam (right) has stepped down as a trustee after just a year. Photo: Robert Jenrick
Despite all the turbulence, the numbers continue to rise, new events are added weekly, doctors are prescribing Parkrun to patients and the charity, whose income has exceeded £7 million (through grants, donations, retail sales and various sponsors), is setting its sights on global expansion. which will double its size and number of events over five years from 2023 to 2028.
Telegraph Sport can also reveal that despite the controversy, the Government will not convene Parkrun for its upcoming roundtable on transgender policy in British sport and there is currently no prospect of Sport England cutting its £5m investment , to help expand its weekly free 5K and 2K challenges.
There is also no sign that Parkrun's leaders — or even its various critics — are backing down on a debate that cuts to the very heart of what it is and what its future should be.
How does the transgender issue relate to Parkrun?
It's been two-and-a-half years since the UK Sports Council published guidance that changed domestic sport in one sentence. It concluded that it was impossible to balance «transgender inclusion, fairness and safety in gender-specific, meaningfully competitive sports» due to persistent differences in strength, endurance and body type. Many governing bodies were effectively told that they had to make a choice, and the subsequent course of action, clearly supported by the government, was to ban transgender women from being in the female category.
It was adopted last year by Athletics GB, but Parkrun, which began as a time trial, says its raison d'être is now participation rather than competition. Runners may identify as “male,” “female,” “prefer not to say,” or “other gender category.” “Parkrun exists solely to inspire people of all backgrounds to come together, be social and active,” says CEO Russ Jefferies. “You can be anyone, everyone is welcome.”
However, this unfairly does not protect the integrity of women's sport, said campaigners, who cited examples of transgender runners registered in the women's category who have set various records.
They began wearing «Save Women's Sports» T-shirts at events and were active on social media. A prominent campaigner is Mara Yamauchi, an Olympic marathon runner and former Foreign Ministry diplomat. “Women would be completely absent from the sport if there wasn’t a women’s category,” she says. “This eliminates the male advantage. By choosing inclusion, they did not choose justice for women. This is discrimination based on gender.”
Olympic athletes Mara Yamauchi (left) and Sharron Davis (center) have been outspoken about the importance of maintaining women's sports categories at both the elite and grassroots levels. Photo: PA/Andrew Milligan
Parkroon says there is a key difference between its “community”. socially oriented physical activity events” and races organized by national federations.
He championed stories of transgender Parkrun runners such as Kate Hodge, who described feeling «always wanted» and praised the ability to easily change gender identity on her Parkrun profile. “When you're worried about being an outsider, it's really nice to be part of a community where you feel completely included and accepted for who you are,” Hodge said.
The debate has continued, to the ignorance of many parkrunners, but the stakes have increased significantly in recent months. Women in Sport, an apolitical charity whose founders included Baroness Sue Campbell, the Football Association's director of women's football, in 1984, stepped in and said all competitive sports, including Parkrun, should have a universally protected category for girls and women. to ensure fairness and fairness. participation. The Policy Exchange, a right-wing think tank, then reported that «at least three women's Parkrun records in the UK are held by people born male» and called on Sport England to stop funding (which comes from the National Lottery). ), if the gender policy has not been changed.
Parkrun remained adamant. Concerns were raised that the change could lead to self-exclusion of people who may have transitioned if they then had to «come out» by changing their Parkrun gender category. However, the main argument against the joint Parkrun explanation was simple: «Why, if it is not a competitive sport, are there results that are also counted in Run Britain's national rankings and in many record lists?»
So what? what happened to the records?
On the morning of February 8th, without warning, all Parkrunner members who had logged in to check their data found that most of the information had disappeared. A record for all age categories in men's and women's senior and even junior Parkruns? Gone. Top 500 lists in every course? Gone. Most first places? Gone. Historical tables with age and gender? Gone. Lists of people below a certain threshold, such as less than 20 minutes for women and 17 minutes for men? Gone.
Some initially speculated that this was some kind of technological glitch — there was no time to take screenshots of the hard-earned records — but then a statement appeared confirming that the change was intentional.
Parkrun denies that the decision was influenced by the transgender campaign.
Internal research, he says, has found that one of the biggest barriers to participation is «the misconception that Parkrun is a competitive race» and associated concerns that you are underprepared or worried about finishing last.
In a statement to Telegraph Sport, the company highlighted results which showed 40 per cent of people say the non-racial element is an aspect they like. “Removing this data is one of many ways we can reinforce this view, reduce barriers and show that everyone is welcome,” the company said, adding that displaying this data “does not reflect what Parkrun should do or what do». this means.»
The very first Parkrun took place on Saturday 2 October 2004 in Bushy Park, with involving 13 finishers and five volunteers Photo: Facebook
However, Parkrun has not provided specific feedback showing how the statistics in the website's drop-down menu are turning people off. And much performance data also remained publicly available, including individual weekly times, positions, gender classifications, personal bests and age categories. Each event is still run the same way: tokens are handed out to show your finishing position, and people are free to watch the action.
The English government and sport do not seem to be concerned about gender politics. Culture Secretary Lucy Fraser will soon hold a roundtable that will «hold to account» prominent sporting administrators for an alleged failure to protect the women's category, but Telegraph Sport has learned that Parkrun is not considered a national governing body and has not been invited to attend.
Sport England also continues to believe that Parkrun fits with its own “uniting the movement” strategy to get more people active. “Parkrun is a fantastic facility that provides thousands of regular opportunities for people of all backgrounds and ages,” a spokesman said. “We have supported Parkrun with funding to expand their offering. We have regular positive dialogue with Parkrun and see no reason to worry about our investment.»
What has the reaction been like?
Following these changes, two things quickly became apparent. Any hope of appeasing those demanding a gender policy on sex at birth failed. Parkrun, the campaigners say, still produces results without regard to female sex category at birth and so their argument still stands.
At the same time, another parkrunning community was stunned by the deteriorating statistics and launched a separate campaign that received significant support.
Mary Taylor, a park runner and Rugby volunteer who started a growing Change.org petition, has a vested interest. Her two children, Miles and Jasper, were boosted by the records, but since then she has been «most touched by the stories of the older generation» who were statistically motivated to take part in Parkrun in the Seventies and Eighties.
“The beauty of Parkrun is that it can be whatever you want it to be,” says Taylor. “Everyone was made to feel welcome and encouraged. How did they expect all these record holders, both children and adults, to feel if their achievements were undone? It was painful. No one we encountered said they were put off by these statistics. People who liked statistics no longer feel welcome at Parkrun.”
Miles, 12, who started his running journey with Junior Parkrun before finishing in the top 30 at the national cross country championships, said: “I felt irritated and confused. Statistics don't exclude people, they motivate them. I wouldn't be as good without them.»
12-year-old Miles is «irritated and confused»; due to stats being removed
His brother, nine-year-old Jasper, said: “I'm really annoyed because I've been working to get into the top 500 fastest. When I got my PB [personal best], I wanted to look at the list and couldn't find it because they deleted it.»
Nine-year-old Jasper wanted to see his PB on the leaderboard
One senior runner who has been inspired by the age group records is James Willis, a 75-year-old runner from Skegness who helped found Malaysia's first Parkrun. «The statistics pushed me to the point where I had just qualified as an England veteran,» he said. «It's ridiculous. There's an argument that statistics stop people from becoming parkrunners, but 250,000 people were doing parkrun every week before they went. It's all nonsense.»
«Movement towards anonymous mediocrity»
Many people who unable to get close to the various records themselves, also noted their shock.
“My daughter was thrilled to take part in Parkrun when the women's course record was broken. We shouted encouragement as she lapped us — everyone around was buzzing – why spoil it?” — says Joseph Richmond.
Chloe le Fay describes some senior record holders as «local celebrities» and is an inspiration to runners like her who will «never even come close» to the top of those leaderboards.< /p>
Ewa Szymanska has revealed she is 17 1-year-old daughter recently canceled a planned attempt to set a course record for her age group and did something else later in the day after discovering that the records had been erased.
“The decision to give up statistics is a step to anonymous mediocrity,” says Paul Flint.
“Without statistics, I wouldn’t be as good”
Julia Murphy describes her «months of training and trying» to break the 20-minute barrier to join an exclusive local club: «I finally did it… and two weeks later the list disappeared.»
Barbara Frost, who 82, says setting a series of course records «gave me a burst of pride when I saw my name on the screen» and motivated her to train for a week.
Val Warwick, who is 75, almost completed it 200 parkruns and volunteered almost as many times.
“Statistics helped me a lot — I was always at the bottom of the field, but my percentage [relative ranking based on age and gender] put me in the middle,” she said.
Many autistic people do too signed the petition, stating that the statistics were of particular interest.
Gamification using statistics is known to help motivate different neurodiverse groups to exercise, especially people with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder),” says Dr Andre Gilburn from the University of Stirling. “Both of these groups have below average levels of exercise, so this is a highly discriminatory position.
“Exercise is known to improve behavior and cognition in people with ADHD. The consequences of this step back are likely to have ramifications beyond Parkrun. You can’t increase inclusivity through exclusion.” Parkrun says that «gamification» remains for those who are interested in it, and emphasizes that all previous data on individual achievements is still available.
What does Parkrun have to do with climate change?
With the benchmark data disappearing, another change that was initially overlooked was the loss of data on people who visited most Parkrun locations. The Parkrun Tourism Facebook page has 37,000 members worldwide and receiving Parkrun A to Z symbols (even the elusive Q) has become a badge of honour. There's even a book written about it. After all, there are now 2,200 parkruns in 22 different countries.
But all of this has become much more difficult to document since Parkrun, which says its mission is to «create a healthier, happier planet,” referred to the environment in his explanation for this particular change.
«We understand that these things are 'value added' for many, but actively encouraging parkrun participants to take part in 'Parkrun tourism', otherwise certain 'tasks' could mean more strain on event capacity,» the spokesperson said, adding that : “Additionally, given the growing concerns about the environmental impact, we do not think it is right to encourage this, especially when the vast majority of people only participate in local Parkruns.”
There are now 2,200 Parkrun races taking place in 22 different countries. Photo: London Bushy Parkrun
This upset another group of Parkrunners. “I'm not a super-Parkrun tourist, but I've been to 45 places in two countries so far,” said Will Hartley, a geography teacher from Woking who intends to visit Poland next month to parkrun there. “I tell my students all the time how important it is to protect the environment, but I think messages like this take the fun out of it. A more positive way of doing this would be to encourage car-sharing initiatives.”
Stu Rutherford and Joan Parker called the move an “awakening”, while Pippa Cumbers wondered where it all might end. “Is the world suddenly stopping the tourism industry?” she asked. It was also noted that traffic data ensures that the high score pages are not just about celebrating the fastest times.
So what next?
Despite the backlash, Parkrun says there has been no negative impact on turnout since the entries were removed. In 2024, the average number of participants grew by 15 percent, and 180 new events were added over the past year.
However, just seven weeks have passed and there are serious warnings that Parkrun's phenomenal progress cannot be taken for granted.
“They have created the most successful outdoor event on the planet, but are risking its future success by betting on insight rather than science,” says Dr Gilburn, a scientist who has extensively researched Parkrun in his professional career. He added: “There is no evidence why the data on their website would be a barrier to visiting. This is a volunteer organization that seems to test the limits of how far you can push the goodwill of their volunteers. Their answers are evasive and lacking in detail. I think they took the easiest way to solve the transgender problem: they simply deleted all the course recordings.”
“Divorced from reality on the ground”
Taylor, the petition's organizer, also remains unconvinced by the official explanation. “It was shocking to hear first-hand accounts that indicate that the management of this organization is anything but open,” she said. “I can only conclude that Parkrun is either out of touch with reality… or there are deeper issues behind these changes.”
Yamauchi stresses that she and her supporters never asked for any of the recordings to be made public. deleted but addresses sex at birth policy. “I had a lot of support… but in the first few days after the Parkrun decision I was subjected to massive abuse,” she says. “I was accused. This has certainly made many people aware of these problems.»
Parkrun says it is constantly “growing and learning”. It said communication mechanisms with «our vital volunteer communities» had recently been strengthened, and conferences, live Q&A sessions, surveys and focus groups had been regularly conducted with positive feedback.
Although some volunteers, including at least one race director, have withdrawn in protest, a prevailing mood of influence from within. “We don’t want to hurt Parkrun,” says Hartley.
Parkun intends to use the big October anniversary «as an opportunity to look ahead to the next 20 years to support more people to be active in their communities.» However, the organization is at a crossroads. “I am very concerned that they are damaging the Parkrun race that we all know and love, which has been a fantastic success for the last 20 years,” Taylor says. “Parkrun is made up of masses of volunteers and runners all over the world. And they are great. We want nothing more than to restore harmony to our community through Parkrun, creating a truly inclusive solution for everyone.”
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