Is a parkrun a race, a time trial, or something else?!

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HappyG(rrr) Nov 2012 1:39pm, 12 Nov 2012 18,450 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) Trying to draw this question away from Herman's very fun statto thread on "How many races have you done...?" http://www.fetcheveryone.com/viewtopic.php?id=52022 to avoid it getting bogged down. All bogging to be done in here instead!! I'll start: Parkruns are not races because: a. Parkrun HQ say so (as Willymo pointed out, it's for legal/insurance reasons) b. It's you against the clock (even though you all start at same time, not at intervals, as TT or someone pointed out) c. Even the wording in the results are "xxx was first across the line" or "xxx had the fastest time" not "xxx was first" because it's about you and your time, not about position. Whoever heard of a race where position didn't matter? (By the way, when you've all flamed me and had a go and cited De Bretts and UKA rules and the King James bible, it won't matter, cos I'm still right. See? ) :-)G
Nick Cook Nov 2012 1:49pm, 12 Nov 2012 10,355 posts	0 Nick Cook re. a) My club runs a monthly 10k for members, but that has to be called a time trial and not a race for legal/insurance reasons too! Probably totally irrelevant to your thread, but I thought I'd say it anyway!!
HappyG(rrr) Nov 2012 1:55pm, 12 Nov 2012 18,453 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) And whilst you are jostling for positions amonst yourselves, you couldn't call it a race (from a public point of view). So it's a very good point Nick! Parkruns are very public (which is brilliant) and are hence very much not a race. You can run them as hard as you like, people can be as brilliant as they like, they can come "first" if they want and it matters not a jot! It's still a PB (the P in PB is the clue) but it's not a "race win" :-)G
Wriggling Snake Nov 2012 1:55pm, 12 Nov 2012 3,016 posts	0 Wriggling Snake I race them
Wriggling Snake Nov 2012 1:55pm, 12 Nov 2012 3,017 posts	0 Wriggling Snake I race them
HappyG(rrr) Nov 2012 1:57pm, 12 Nov 2012 18,454 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) You can race them all you like WS. But you're racing yourself, not anyone else! Bit like this argument actually, I suspect!
sheri3004 Nov 2012 1:58pm, 12 Nov 2012 14,694 posts	0 sheri3004 I thought "win counts" were listed on the website, and was going to use this in favour of it being a race, but just looked and you are right :)G, it is "first finishes"! But I do think of parkruns as races nevertheless although I know they're not and I shouldn't, and I do take note of my finishing position, which incidentally is getting worse not better!
HermanBloom Nov 2012 2:04pm, 12 Nov 2012 2,353 posts	0 HermanBloom Think it just comes down to personal preference really. I choose to race them. If you don't want to class them as a race, then don't. That sounds like I'm being deliberately harsh but I'm not. I just think the answer to this simply comes down to how the individual runner approaches it. I don't know how else you define it. race organisers use different language according to insurance reasons etc so you can't take what they are calling it as proof, so it just comes down to your own thoughts. I think
SPR Nov 2012 2:05pm, 12 Nov 2012 17,655 posts	0 SPR For legal reasons = cheaper. It's like silly tax rules. Time trials are still races, just a different type. Results have Position and gender position. Parkrun has nothing different from a race. There is a win count. It is "first finishes counts"
SPR Nov 2012 2:07pm, 12 Nov 2012 17,656 posts	0 SPR There's an age graded league. Event history lists all winners. There's a fastest 500 list. Actually the results facility is better than most races!