Park Run have removed a wealth of the stats that runners could see before, leaving a lot of them very unhappy.

Shropshire Star

Shrewbury Park run was on today but we met up with some of the runners who are unhappy about what they see as a pointless change to the way records and stats are kept .

Transcript

00:00 How you doing guys? Come in sir, come in.

00:04 Yeah, let's get you in. So Parkrun Shrewsbury, you've just done your run, and you've still

00:08 got a bit of puff to talk though haven't you? We can still catch it. So it says it on the

00:12 shirts, bring back the stats, we've just been chatting to one of the fathers of one of the

00:16 runners and just fill us in a little bit then. So what's going on with the stats then? Why

00:20 have they taken them away do you think?

00:22 Sorry, yeah, you probably need to say, yeah, I think you need to. I'll just blice at you.

00:32 So I'll tell you what led to that, let me rephrase that question. So what is it that's

00:36 been taken away then when it refers to stats then?

00:40 The Parkrun used to let everybody know their age category stats, so if you ran a Parkrun

00:47 you could find out where you'd come against all other people in your age category that

00:51 have run that Parkrun. That's what was important for me as a runner aged 65 to 69 category.

00:57 I know that I can come first on any particular day because I've just been the only person

01:01 over 65 to turn up on that day, and it was a young female. But I could look at the results

01:05 and see where I'd come against every female of age 65 who'd ever run that Parkrun. And

01:11 that's one of the stats that's been taken away, and that's the important thing for me.

01:14 But they've also taken away all the historical stats of first finishers over the courses

01:19 and most events attended by people, the top 500 runners. And they say that they've done

01:25 it because those stats were off putting to people, but they weren't. I've done 338 Parkruns,

01:32 Frank's done 308, I didn't even know about these stats until we'd run probably 50 or

01:37 so, and we're seasoned competitive Parkrunners and we didn't even know about them, so they're

01:41 not putting people off.

01:42 So I've previously personally photographed to the Shropshire Star Telford Parkrun and

01:46 been surprised to find runners coming from abroad to take part there. So all their stats

01:51 now, that record will have gone as well.

01:54 All over the world, Australia, America, wherever there's a Parkrun, all their stats have gone.

02:00 And it must be a useful aid, you'd second this sir, come in a pinch, a useful aid for

02:06 motivating you. And if you want to, like you say, if you're looking at a certain age category,

02:11 you want to know where you fit on the scheme of things. It's a useful training tool I should

02:16 imagine.

02:17 It's absolutely that. Because of what Parkrun did and the way they did it, because they

02:22 took the stats down without any notification or any consultation with all the volunteers,

02:27 all of us who, you'll see 50 plus people have been helping set up this Parkrun this week.

02:32 No one knew about it. I learned about it on Twitter. And it was the way that they did

02:36 it without asking anybody. Suddenly all our stats went overnight.

02:41 Quite frustrating really. I mean Parkrun, it seems to me, it is kind of perfectly suitable

02:47 for two levels, isn't it? You've got people that kind of want to come and race, but then

02:50 equally people that are just starting off on jogging. And that's the beauty of the Parkrun,

02:54 would you say?

02:55 That's absolutely it. I mean, all life is here. There's a lady who's run here today

03:00 who's over 80. There's children who are running. It's always been the case, you can come along

03:06 to Parkrun with your buggy, you can come along and go really fast, you can come along and

03:10 go slowly, you can walk. It's always been what everybody wanted it to be. Nobody was

03:17 put off by the fact that there were some stats on her.

03:23 Because they can't find anyone. They say that it's putting people off, but there was no

03:28 one that spoke to even people that you speak to that have only done a few Parkruns are

03:31 not even aware of the stats. So you're not aware of it until you've done Parkrun for

03:37 a little while and then you really get into it and look at it. And then you start to want

03:42 to try and better your time or better your time in your age category. Because you know,

03:48 you know, especially as you get older, you know, not here, it's not a race, but it's

03:53 nice to have the stats that you can compare yourself with.

03:57 So the message is bring back our stats.

03:59 Taking the stats away hasn't solved anything. Bringing them back will not harm anything.

04:05 Any bigger problems need to be solved on another day. We just want our stats back.

04:09 Can you second that, sir?

04:11 Yeah, yeah, indeed. I think it's important. Obviously, runners are different ages, different

04:16 levels, different genders. I think it's important that you can compare yourself with your peer

04:22 group. And they've taken all that away. And it was done without consultation. It was done

04:30 practically overnight, really. And you didn't even get a chance to take a screenshot. So

04:37 yeah, it was wiped from history.

04:41 So we're here at Parkrun Shrewsbury. And Darren, you're not running today because you picked

04:45 up an injury, but this got you into running Parkrun, didn't it?

04:49 Yeah, yeah. I used to be quite overweight. I used to run 19 stone. And Parkrun gave me

04:53 the motivation to work on losing the weight. It's something to get up for every weekend,

04:58 really, and motivate and meet a lot of new people.

05:01 Yeah. And your lad's running today.

05:03 He is, yeah, he is.

05:04 Has he got the course record, I believe?

05:05 He's got the course record here. He's also got the course record at 16 other different

05:07 Parkruns as well.

05:08 Wow. That's quite impressive.

05:10 It's Parkrun. It got him in. Parkrun is what got him into running.

05:13 And you just said that's been great for him, not just physically, obviously, but mental

05:16 health and really built his confidence.

05:18 Yeah, it has, yeah.

05:19 So it's given you a lot, Parkrun. But at the minute, there's this issue where they're taking

05:24 away the extra stats, aren't they?

05:26 That's what they are, yeah.

05:26 So for people that want to kind of, you know, do, well, just fill us in on how people use

05:31 that and what that means.

05:32 Yeah, a lot of people use it to motivate themselves each week, you know, to try and

05:36 almost better themselves. And it's not just, you know, from anybody from the age of four

05:39 up to the age of 99, they're all like, you know, trying to improve themselves each week.

05:43 And it gives them that motivation to get out on a Saturday morning, you know, and meet

05:46 other people. It's just such a shame they've taken it away now. It's taken it away from

05:50 a lot of people that, you know, really does give them the inspiration to do it.

05:55 And you were saying that using those extra stats, you've had people coming up to your

05:58 lad, haven't you, saying, "Oh, you've inspired me."

06:00 Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people, yeah, and they talk to him and he's, yeah, some people

06:03 said, "You're an inspiration." And, you know, and it's like, yeah, it gives everyone,

06:08 everybody, from whether you walk or you run, sprint or, you know, it's for everybody.

06:12 And it should be inclusive for everybody. And that includes the stats. It should all

06:15 be inclusive.

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