How much impact has the rise of free ParkRuns had on paying events?
I was in Battersea Park a couple of weeks ago and there was a well-attended festival 5k/10k event going on. There’s currently an application in to hold a weekly ParkRun at the same time in Battersea Park. Why would you pay to do a 5k run there if you could do one for free?
Great for participation but not necessarily for events companies 
Quite a bit…however, within reason, the pay to play events need the free to play activities to help feed them…
it’s a little like IM needed local club events to feed them, but they gave so little back to the local infrastructure that eventually a higher proportion of their numbers were novices and/or less well prepared for the extremes of IM events…
Thus not only do their numbers appear to be on the decline, but their flagship event is rapidly becoming a participation event…
My first 5km (as an adult) was prior to Bushy (I think?)
There was still no parkrun in Derby until around a decade ago. I used to do some £3 evening race. Once per month on a bypass. Bloody mint. There’s nowt like paying and pinning a number on 
I do like what parkrun has done. Getting people active and involved. That is the benefit. And that’s better than a paid event, surely?
But then it’s all a bit “cult-y”, isn’t it?
Same for open water (“wild” 
) “swimming” - which just seems like an excuse to get cold and wet, then eat some cake 
Pretty sure you can pay someone to do that to you 
Anyways, Ironman? Bear dead, mate.
A great idea. Just could have been so much better…
like most things, it has become so…
Saw something yesterday that said the highest attendance in a parkrun was Bushy, albeit 2019 I think, over 2500 finishers. Most races would be happy with half that, and would possibly struggle to get authorisation to go ahead with it.
Imagine pre PR a RD approached Bushy to put a 2500 person race in, aint happening.
That was probably that anniversary event in October - always pulls a crowd. I do remember around 10 years ago there was a paid 5k event in Richmond Park starting at 10am on a few Saturdays throughout the year pretty much on the same course as the Richmond parkrun an hour earlier. It still got reasonable entries. I think that parkrun helps some local 10k type events, but I’m sure if you’re an organiser of 5k races that aren’t a race-for-life type thing then business must surely be down.
As for cult-y I think it certainly can be. There’s a whole load of ‘in’ stuff seemingly based around ‘parkrun tourism’ where you travel around and do events to try and spell the letters of the alphabet or other such things. Also things like getting every finishing position from 1-99 or having a time which ends in all of the seconds 00-59. I pretty much stick to my local parkrun unless it’s cancelled or I happen to be elsewhere on a Saturday morning and love (what I believe to be) the non-cult like experience of sticking with my same local parkrun and not chasing these ‘challenges.’
As for Ironman - at this point in my life (and my desire to do long bike rides) I’m not entering any for the foreseeable.
Yeah. That’s true actually.
It’s not just parkrun 
@jeffb is one of those letter/tourist whores
Yes, quite possibly a big anniversary but it was also showing how the Bushy parkrun had grown from 13 at the first one, there was another in SA I think that isn’t far behind and was the highest for a point. Like you say, possibly impacts 5K events especially if you’ve got a fast one nearby, less so if it is one of the beach races. But it’s been good at getting people to exercise and into running which probably helps other events in different ways.
Yeah, as Poet says I’m becoming one of those people I do know someone who has done something like 650+ parkruns at over 250 venues so I’ve got some catching up to do!
All part of the challenges detailed in this helpful app Clayton Industries
It sure has become an obsession for many.
I know loads, the club I used to run XC with had someone with over 800 parkruns now, and another who now has over 500 different venues. So many of the people there are insane tourists, I know 11 year olds with over 300.
There’s a guy on a group posts an impressive chart with it summarised against the number of parkruns they’ve done and different venues. I’m guessing they make this data available to query against via an API or something. Maybe you need to request it or pay a token fee.
That chart has been shared on here somewhere - I know I’ve seen that before!
Parkrun recently requested that certain challenges such as doing Fibonacci numbers, prime numbers and multiples of 111 be removed from the app, as they’re worried about certain milestone parkruns getting overloading with tourists.
I’m on 39 different events from 632 runs. But I’m not addicted, honest. Although to be fair during covid when it was cancelled I didn’t miss it - but it’s good to be back. For many people it’s so much more than just a run. Helping scan barcodes a few years ago on Christmas Day one lady said to the run director that holding the event that day made her day.
This website has some mighty impressive stats parkrun STATS — elliottline.com
I believe they don’t allow automated scraping of results off of the parkrun site and people talk of cut and pasting into spreadsheets but I’m sure some of the stats folk are hooked into their API which I recall being mentioned quite a few years ago.
I definitely think ‘peak triathlon’ has come & gone.
I have never done a Park Run.
Ease yourself in, you don’t have to run, there is a TailWalker, everyone is friendly. 
I dont like ParkRun, there I said it. I know lots do but I find it brings out the Walts with their high viz and clipboards and rules and it takes all the fun away. Maybe that’s just the local one here.
nor me - I have only done one and that was because we were staying with a friend who persuaded us to do their local one.
for me, if I want to go for a run I just head out of the door - why go miles (often by car) just to run 5k? doesn’t make sense to me.
anyhoo - would be dull if we were all the same eh?