My home parkrun, Albert is like that, 1k start loop then 2*2k, usually catching people at the end of the first big loop if they’re walking. It’s generally wide enough though and not heard of any real problems despite having 15 minute runners.
The first parkrun (er, I mean “Bushy Park Time Trial”) I did was in 2006. I wasn’t a member of a club. I’d run a 10k race each year for the previous three years and that was it. I saw a listing in Runners World (probably the first copy I bought) for the BPTT and as it was about four miles from home went along. There were 157 of us on the start and some tall chap called Craig Mottram ran 14 minutes dead that first time I was there (my time was 21 minutes). I wasn’t put off at all. I was just amazed at how fast that guy up front ran.
I’d like to see course records but I suspect part of the reason they’re not easily available on the event homepages as there would be male/female records displayed, and that brings in the sex/gender debate. I think parkrun are trying to distance themselves from it more and more.
Can they just have an Open category and a Female category and then request sex rather than gender?
As an aside I just looked back at the results of my first parkrun/BPTT, there were 157 finishers and the slowest time was 36:07. The first 150 finishers ran sub-30!
5 Likes
7 or 8 minute late start for drizzly Bushy today. Need to leave my house a good 15 or 20 minutes before now. Currently stuck in the beast of a finish funnel
18 Likes
You love a late start! 
3 Likes
Mate, aren’t you always late to the start anyway? Why change the habit of a lifetime!? 
5 Likes
I volunteered, possibly for the last time ever.
I was paired with that chopper who takes his Bluetooth speaker along & repeatedly plays the Rocky theme before seamlessly segueing into I Would Walk 500 miles & doing Dad dancing to encourage the walkers.
FML.
(Our photo was taken, I bet my puss was a fucking treat 
)
14 Likes
Finished 1100th or something today 
10 Likes
You HAVE to find that pic?
Lol lots.
3 Likes
Not fast, not slow today at Burnham with LO.
24.08
8 Likes
A bit of an improvement in recent times with 20:50 ish at Crewe today,
Very easy first lap, then went mad for 1.5 laps, hung on for the last 5-600 ms.
Av hr 160 so maybe a little bit more this summer.
Lovely day for it!
11 Likes
Not as disgruntled as I was feeling inside, however my arms are crossed & I’m stood to one side. Disappointingly I’ve shown a lack of integrity & automatically painted on a smile for the camera.
16 Likes
That’s a motley crew!
1 Like
Hair metal isn’t dead, they’re just marshalling parkrun?
1 Like
The folded arms say it all 
4 Likes
Some filthy twat has had a dump 
next to the foot entrance to one of the car parks 
Whoops, this has nothing to do with parkrun and should have been in the rant thread 
I’m running on less than 50% brain power today, and it’s low bar to start with
8 Likes
Decided to cycle up to Jersey Farm parkrun today as one of my club members was doing a pancake morning to raise money so she can run the London marathon. Nice way to do it actually.
17km ride there
5k run round hilly, muddy and grassy - not a quick course. 24:xx for 30th
17km back with a stop for pancakes.
Nice morning all in all.
9 Likes
Had planned on doing parkrun #150 this morning, when I was in the kitchen I saw something in the back garden, it was the hedgehog from a couple of nights ago asleep outside and it’s been sub-zero overnight.
So recue mode instead, poor thing has ticks on it, just about to take it to the local rescue, fairly sure it is alive but not very well 
despite making it through winter.
Will run or cycle later, it’s a glorious but cold day.
19 Likes
Nice work !
2 Likes
Freezing here this morning but lots of sunshine.
Quite liking the extended commute to Bushy now. It’s about 3.5km to get there now so quite a nice warm up and cool down. Made it on time so was sort of near the front. Was quite slippy in places so not super fast. I do think though it’s my fastest of the year, maybe a mid 20
Number 95 today!
8 Likes
Our run (Bognor Regis) was delayed by about 20 minutes this morning after one of our volunteers (elderly lady) fainted (I think) near the start area at about 8:55 and we waited for an ambulance. Part way round another lady fell over and I think bashed her face up a bit.
My run was 23:21 and my once a week running and not much in between rewards me with more calories being burnt and a sky high heart rate!
At the finish I chatted to another runner (one of the many run directors we have here) and he had to pretty much break up a fist fight between two male runners during the run. Apparently one cut up the other and it didn’t go down well. Cripes!
12 Likes