Parkrun (5km). Why so little interest in the US/Canada?

Running
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No insight into other countries as I’m an Aussie myself, but I can’t say enough good things about Parkruns.

One of the things I really like is that it gets “non-runners” into running. People will do it as a social thing on the weekend, and often partners/kids will join in too because it’s free, low-pressure and an approachable enough distance for most to walk/run. At the other end, they’re a great opportunity to do a 5km TT with a bit of extra motivation (my club does them frequently during winter and as part of prep for duathlons and running events), and there’s usually someone to chase all the way up to the random 14-year old guns at the front, as well as a few local pros who often use them as tempo/threshold. There’s usually a group of regular volunteers as well as some that rotate in and out, including some of the aforementioned pros which is cool.
Pretty common to see people do the local parkrun on holiday too (especially if it’s a more rural area and you can snag a CR in the absence of the actual fast people)

At a guess, I’d say our relatively nice weather and low urban density play a role- we’re lucky to have surroundings that are pleasant for outdoor activities year-round. it’s definitely possible to recreate the same experience in the middle of a big city, but IMO more difficult and less opportunities to do so. And the majority of people there are predominantly doing so for fun/social reasons, and probably less inclined to show up on a cold/rainy day than a race they’ve trained and paid for.

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There are more parkruns in London than the entire US.

Parkruns are awesome, encourage my athletes to go to them, and if they live near one often have them do it as part of their long run or a tempo/threshold run for the week. Run 6-10k to parkrun, do part run up tempo/threshold, run 6-10k home. Get a solid 20-25k in with 5k at to faster than race pace (do bring a gel though if you do this…ask me how I know)

Have been fortunate to hit four or five different ones in AUS + NZ and the UK. Wish they were more prevalent in the US

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For what it is though, parkrun operates with relatively few, not uncommonly fewer than 10.

An on-the-day race director/announcer, course marking and on course marshals are generally limited, start/finish infrastructure is limited to some cones and a couple of banner flags. No drink stations or traffic management. There’s always a “tail walker” out there. A couple of people handing out finish place tokens as you cross the line and a couple scanning barcodes. And some magic fairies transfer the scanned results to the event website and generate an email of your result.

Arrive 30 minutes prior to the event and you wouldn’t know you’re in the right place. Packing up literally takes 5 minutes before organisers and regulars are ready to adjourn to a cafe.

This idea that parkrun is a really simple thing to organise each week and takes no more effort than 90mins on a Saturday morning really annoys me, and is really dismissive of the effort that actually goes in to each event. There’s a lot more that goes on each week that goes totally unseen (not least, making sure there are enough volunteers every Saturday - that takes a lot more effort than it should).

Those ‘magic fairies’ that process the results are also a person who often has to spend a long time sorting out issues when people ducked out of the finish funnel without taking a token, two finish tokens were stuck together, or various other things that easily go wrong. For a run director, who’s setting up and processing results it can easily be an entire Saturday morning given up, and then for the event directors the whole process of getting ready for the next week instantly starts again.

that is correct i guess for an race director thats about 5 hour of work in total dependin on some factors but defo no less than 3,5 hours, at the same time some parkruns run differently some had a core team with people that constantly share the race director work and others have different clubs take over.
i have to say overall its one of the best things that has been invented. and i hope long may it last.

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I really think you’ve nailed it with the reasons here. I’m the Event Director for one of the newer US parkruns, and this has been my experience as a regular runner and visitor at other US events, as well as getting things off the ground here. A new parkrun requires a team to set it up, and run it week in and week out, and it requires people to show up to give that team a reason to want to show up week in and week out.

(back in parkrun USA’s early days, there were more hoops to jump through (fundraising, insurance, etc), but parkrun USA is robust of an organization now that setup is pretty easy… if you have the people to do the groundwork)

Definitely one of the biggest problems is that mostly nobody’s heard of parkrun here. Once people show up, they predictably enjoy it for all the reasons parkrun is loved everywhere else, but you have to let them know it exists, and also drag them away from their already-existing running clubs or races or things like that. Some parkruns have had success teaming up with local running clubs or groups, but they’re not always interested.

I also want to echo what mncharlton said about effort required. It’s true that, once a parkrun is established, for the vast majority of participants and volunteers, it’s no more than an hour’s commitment on Saturday morning. But it’s much more than that for a few selected people, like the directors who shepherd those volunteers, do publicity and outreach, process results, answer emails, etc. And it’s particularly laborious in the early stages of actually setting up the parkrun, where you have to canvass for team members, get approval for your course from both parkrun USA and your local landowner, etc. It’s incredibly common for someone to contact parkrun USA saying, “Hey, I want to start a parkrun in my hometown!” and then back out once they realize how much they’ll have to do to get started. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have requirements, of course, but it takes quite some effort.

That’s not to say people don’t have to put in equal work to start a parkrun in the UK or Australia, but the fact that they are so much more numerous there means 1) you probably don’t even have to start one, and 2) if you do, there’s a robust support network of both volunteers to help you and experienced others to guide you through the process that doesn’t exist as robustly in the US. The parkrun USA manager is great, and the volunteer ambassadors are great too, but it’s just a much more lonely effort. And feels lonelier when you do all that work and only a few people show up to walk or run.

There are more parkruns in London than the entire US.

I just wanted to say I believe this might be no longer true! Last I checked, there were 61 London parkruns, and the newest US parkrun in Canton, MI makes 61 for the US!

25

There are more parkruns in London than the entire US.

Parkruns are awesome, encourage my athletes to go to them, and if they live near one often have them do it as part of their long run or a tempo/threshold run for the week. Run 6-10k to parkrun, do part run up tempo/threshold, run 6-10k home. Get a solid 20-25k in with 5k at to faster than race pace (do bring a gel though if you do this…ask me how I know)

Have been fortunate to hit four or five different ones in AUS + NZ and the UK. Wish they were more prevalent in the US

Ditch bonk or parking lot?

26

I also want to echo what mncharlton said about effort required. It’s true that, once a parkrun is established, for the vast majority of participants and volunteers, it’s no more than an hour’s commitment on Saturday morning. But it’s much more than that for a few selected people, like the directors who shepherd those volunteers, do publicity and outreach, process results, answer emails, etc. And it’s particularly laborious in the early stages of actually setting up the parkrun, where you have to canvass for team members, get approval for your course from both parkrun USA and your local landowner, etc. It’s incredibly common for someone to contact parkrun USA saying, “Hey, I want to start a parkrun in my hometown!” and then back out once they realize how much they’ll have to do to get started. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have requirements, of course, but it takes quite some effort.

I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be possible to work it from the inside out?

Suppose I gathered half a dozen friends of mine at our local park (the one with the pickleball tourneys, let’s say?), marked out a 5K loop and went for a run

No amenities, no rewards, no Winners, per se, and only semi-official timing

Afterwards, we could say “come back next week and bring a friend”

The next week there’s a dozen; the next week maybe we’re up to 15-20

BUT - it’s not a running club, not group training run

If this continued for a significant length of time - through the summer, perhaps - and grew to a substantial number of participants, could the people who started it just *call it *a parkrun? Or does it have to be “registered?” If you’ve already established a consistent product, does that make it more acceptable to @parkrun where they’d say “Ok you’re in?”

I guess I’m also asking “How lo-fi/DIY can do with your local before @parkrun says ‘um, you’re kinda poaching our brand here?’”

27

It has come to Wichita Ks this year, and has become a big hit, growing every week.

nice!

I can think of two places in Maine that have summer race series - one isa 5k every week on a weeknight, the other cycles through 3k / 5k / 8k. The latter is $60 for the summer; IDK how much the weekly 5k one is.
Where in Maine? Do you know the names?

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Dr. Tigerchik wrote:
Quote:

It has come to Wichita Ks this year, and has become a big hit, growing every week.

nice!

I can think of two places in Maine that have summer race series - one isa 5k every week on a weeknight, the other cycles through 3k / 5k / 8k. The latter is $60 for the summer; IDK how much the weekly 5k one is.
Where in Maine? Do you know the names?

3k/5/8 is quarry road trails in Waterville
pretty sure Portland, ME has the 5k summer evening thing
PM me if you’re in the Waterville area!

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I don’t think you’d have brand objections from parkrun until and unless you started calling it “parkrun”. There are plenty of free, weekly 5km events in the US not under parkrun’s purview, even really large ones like Open Run in NYC or GoRun in Chicago.

But if your endgame would be to be a parkrun (officially) rather than just create a similar free weekly 5k event, I would reach out to them from the start, as it’s just easier to be in the system and make sure you don’t make any choices that would have to be changed later (e.g. if your proposed course ran afoul of any of the parkrun official course guidelines). They’d have to do their approval and vetting anyways, so might as well know everything that’s coming from the start. You wouldn’t want your unofficial runs to have some rules that you’d have to suddenly change later when you became official (e.g. parkrun has a one dog per runner policy … if you had a regular who’d been coming to unofficials for 10 weeks and now you say they can’t run with their two dogs, that might not be ideal, say)

And while having an established group is really helpful for getting your parkrun off and running, it’s not necessary at all for getting the organization “interested” in you / your possible event. parkrun USA is in growth mode right now, so they’ll be interested even if you’re one person reaching out to them saying “I want to start a parkrun.” (that’s who I was!)

Then, once you’ve talked with them and are ready to start getting your parkrun actually going, your unofficial weekly events come in handy to get the word out and gather a dedicated community. We didn’t personally do so at our event, but other US parkruns have done test runs before their official launch to do exactly that (some for many weeks and even months).

30

There are also two parkruns in Maine!

One in Brunswick (Merrymeeting parkrun) and one in Biddeford (Eastern Trail parkrun). The Biddeford one is the US’ second-newest; I believe tomorrow will be their 4th event.

31

Insurance.

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… if your endgame would be to be a parkrun (officially) rather than just create a similar free weekly 5k event, I would reach out to them from the start, as it’s just easier to be in the system and make sure you don’t make any choices that would have to be changed later (e.g. if your proposed course ran afoul of any of the parkrun official course guidelines).

Yeah, that’s why it’s hypothetical
“Suppose I gathered half a dozen friends of mine …” I have no IRL friends, which is why my runs are primarily in the Virtual space LOL

33

In the US, there are a lot of local run and bike clubs that simply meet at a brewery or something to run or bike their route then meet back for a drink and food. Simply using Facebook to organize.

I can think of at least a dozen run or bike groups just around Raleigh that do this. Without the need of an international umbrella association.

34

I really think you’ve nailed it with the reasons here. I’m the Event Director for one of the newer US parkruns, and this has been my experience as a regular runner and visitor at other US events, as well as getting things off the ground here. A new parkrun requires a team to set it up, and run it week in and week out, and it requires people to show up to give that team a reason to want to show up week in and week out.

(back in parkrun USA’s early days, there were more hoops to jump through (fundraising, insurance, etc), but parkrun USA is robust of an organization now that setup is pretty easy… if you have the people to do the groundwork)

Definitely one of the biggest problems is that mostly nobody’s heard of parkrun here. Once people show up, they predictably enjoy it for all the reasons parkrun is loved everywhere else, but you have to let them know it exists, and also drag them away from their already-existing running clubs or races or things like that. Some parkruns have had success teaming up with local running clubs or groups, but they’re not always interested.

I also want to echo what mncharlton said about effort required. It’s true that, once a parkrun is established, for the vast majority of participants and volunteers, it’s no more than an hour’s commitment on Saturday morning. But it’s much more than that for a few selected people, like the directors who shepherd those volunteers, do publicity and outreach, process results, answer emails, etc. And it’s particularly laborious in the early stages of actually setting up the parkrun, where you have to canvass for team members, get approval for your course from both parkrun USA and your local landowner, etc. It’s incredibly common for someone to contact parkrun USA saying, “Hey, I want to start a parkrun in my hometown!” and then back out once they realize how much they’ll have to do to get started. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have requirements, of course, but it takes quite some effort.

That’s not to say people don’t have to put in equal work to start a parkrun in the UK or Australia, but the fact that they are so much more numerous there means 1) you probably don’t even have to start one, and 2) if you do, there’s a robust support network of both volunteers to help you and experienced others to guide you through the process that doesn’t exist as robustly in the US. The parkrun USA manager is great, and the volunteer ambassadors are great too, but it’s just a much more lonely effort. And feels lonelier when you do all that work and only a few people show up to walk or run.

There are more parkruns in London than the entire US.

I just wanted to say I believe this might be no longer true! Last I checked, there were 61 London parkruns, and the newest US parkrun in Canton, MI makes 61 for the US!

Aside from getting dedicated volunteers, getting a route is too difficult. Requires a paid permit, and $2million insurance policy

35

I’m the Event Director for one of the newer US parkruns, and this has been my experience as a regular runner and visitor at other US events, as well as getting things off the ground here. .
(back in parkrun USA’s early days, there were more hoops to jump through (fundraising, insurance, etc), but parkrun USA is robust of an organization now that setup is pretty easy… if you have the people to do the groundwork)

thank you for running a parkrun…
my understanding from talking to parkrunners in South Africa, was that the insurance and liability concerns in the US are the major barriers. I’m glad to hear the parkrun USA is getting better on this.

I absolutely love parkruns, went to two in SA last year. At the start they announce everyone who’s done 100 or more, there are tshirts for 50, 100 etc, there are parkrun tourists who go around the country doing all the different ones…
In Johannesburg, many choices within 30min for a Saturday parkrun:

I did the Delta one, as it was the first parkrun in SA, started by Bruce Fordyce…

Notice on that screenshot of the various parkruns, the Discovery/Vitality logos. This is used by most of the private health insurance companies in SA. Logging a parkrun gives you points in the insurance apps, which can reduce premiums, get you a free smoothie at the Vitality gyms, discounts on fresh vegetables at the grocery store, etc. You can also link your Strava to Discovery and get those workouts logged. The USA is seriously behind in both Parkrunning and health insurance I feel.

In Cape Town, 850 people for the Rondebosch Common parkrun, below Devils Peak…

parkruns.jpg
parkrunRondebosch.jpg

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It’s true that certain cities / municipalities / etc will require payment for a permit to stage an event, and that would be a no-go for parkrun. This is part of the reason parkrun has had more success in the US in growing in suburbs / small cities rather than big cities.

But at the very least, I want to clarify that insurance is not part of the problem in getting parkruns up in the US. parkrun USA provides insurance (for free) to all event teams starting a new parkrun.

37

This idea that parkrun is a really simple thing to organise each week and takes no more effort than 90mins on a Saturday morning really annoys me, and is really dismissive of the effort that actually goes in to each event. There’s a lot more that goes on each week that goes totally unseen (not least, making sure there are enough volunteers every Saturday - that takes a lot more effort than it should).

Those ‘magic fairies’ that process the results are also a person who often has to spend a long time sorting out issues when people ducked out of the finish funnel without taking a token, two finish tokens were stuck together, or various other things that easily go wrong. For a run director, who’s setting up and processing results it can easily be an entire Saturday morning given up, and then for the event directors the whole process of getting ready for the next week instantly starts again.

Couldn’t agree more. I’m the Run Director for my local parkrun (a Canadian one) this week - I will skip the post-run coffee and go straight home to get the results processed, with the Event Director on standby for when something inevitably goes wrong. I also help with the social media every week and it feels like we’re always pleading for volunteers or for people to return the finish tokens they just put in their pocket and took home.

As for why it isn’t more prevalent, well, it’s hard to find appropriate courses. They can’t cross roads and unlike the UK there are no big parks locally, so you’re stuck with multi-loop courses on trails/paths that weren’t designed for 100ppl to come stampeding through at the exact same time.

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Never heard about it and I just checked one near my house. It’s 1 hour 40 min drive round trip. It’s just too far.

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with the advent of park walkers, you can be sat out on a cone for 2 hours. That’s nothing compared the people who actually run the race. I volunteer 1 to 5 ratio for park run, but with events taking so long I can’t help out during winter as I coach soccer which starts at 10:30.

Yep even as a marshal you need about three hours for a 5 km event

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The parks in England are magnificent! My husband and I recently spent 5 weeks in England and did a different Park Run every weekend. We were amazed with the park system, the sheer size of the parks is incredible. The community spirit and willingness to volunteer appears greater than U.S. Upon returning I immediately searched out Park Runs in U.S and found there is one in Tucson, AZ a location we visit every winter. I have now run it 4 times and volunteered once. I found it enjoyable and well organized but it is 4 laps around a very small park! The volunteers are great and it’s a fun crowd of runners. For anyone in Tucson it’s at Himmel Park every Saturday at 0700 for summer months.

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