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parkrun thread

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LazyDaisy May 2017 1:32pm, 13 May 2017 18,386 posts	Quote Pin LazyDaisy Can I ask for some advice on managing the start of the run safely please? With our numbers now regularly around 500, and a start on a wide-ish stretch of grass (about 20m?) narrowing to a tarmac path within 50m of the start, we have had several incidents of trips within the crowd. No-one's been trampled yet but it doesn't feel as safe as we'd like. It's been suggested that narrowing the start area is the answer. I know there's quite a lot of science behind crowd flow management but before I settle down to google I thought I'd ask what solutions have been found to work for others. (Tom1759 - I reckon this could be useful for Exeter too as I wondered how they'd coped both at the start and at the finishing funnel, which is generally pretty short, and for their barcode scanning arrangements.)
westmoors May 2017 2:14pm, 13 May 2017 1,834 posts	Quote Pin westmoors LD, a few years ago I visited Longrun Meadow where the whole route is on a narrow path. They had "starting pens" i.e. little signs at the side with predicted finish times. Seemed to work quite well.
LazyDaisy May 2017 2:33pm, 13 May 2017 18,387 posts	Quote Pin LazyDaisy We've thought starting pens might be a solution. When I RD I always ask people to arrange themselves 'sensibly' but from what I'm finding on googling on 'Managing crowds safely' I think a more visible 'demarcation' is likely to nudge people more strongly into the right place.
Fragile Do Not Bend May 2017 3:37pm, 13 May 2017 1,777 posts	Quote Pin Fragile Do Not Bend I was going to suggest starting pen type signs too. It's not always easy to judge from looking at the other runners, where you should be starting. I went to a new parkrun to me recently, and placed myself at my customary 3/4 way back, and spent the first of three laps overtaking people! I've never overtaken that many people before.
JustCommando! May 2017 4:46pm, 13 May 2017 3,545 posts	Quote Pin JustCommando! Do you have a picture / map LD? be easier for me to think about it!
LazyDaisy May 2017 5:07pm, 13 May 2017 18,389 posts	Quote Pin LazyDaisy google.com That's the link to our course map JC. That map is slightly inaccurate as the start and finish points have been transposed. One complication you can't see from the photo is that there is a large 'urban wildflower meadow' area which we aren't allowed to run over (it starts roughly where that oval green blob just near the green pin.)
LindsD May 2017 5:44pm, 13 May 2017 17,057 posts	Quote Pin LindsD Just dropping in to report that Bois de Boulogne parkrun is as lovely as promised As you were.
LazyDaisy May 2017 6:41pm, 13 May 2017 18,395 posts	Quote Pin LazyDaisy Glad you made it Linds
Bazoaxe May 2017 7:34pm, 13 May 2017 11,298 posts	Quote Pin Bazoaxe Interesting Marketing technique at Edinburgh Parkrun today. Just past 4k you pass a cafe. A guy, presumably the owner, was outside and shouting encouragement along the lines of: - Well done, great effort, you can smell that bacon roll - Great run, great coffee
princesszee May 2017 7:53pm, 13 May 2017 395 posts	Quote Pin princesszee Loved the 2 girls at Livi parkrun this morning dancing and cheering "you can do it, you you can do it" 👯 Just what I needed for the last wee burst 😁