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parkrun thread

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Kirsty Oct 2018 12:31pm, 6 Oct 2018 913 posts	Quote Pin Kirsty The poster is real. PSH is an extremely genuine person.
fetcheveryone Oct 2018 1:10pm, 6 Oct 2018 19,972 posts	Quote Pin fetcheveryone I've been ED for three years now, and see no signs of a deterioration in attitudes towards other park users. And in that time, we've put measures in place to give them greater awareness of what's happening; and created passing places around our busy and cramped finish area; and encouraged our volunteers to engage with passers-by to ensure they come away with a positive viewpoint of what it is that we do. My use of the term 'muggle' is only ever as a nice way of pointing out that there might be people in the park who don't get what it is that we're doing. I take it very seriously, and would happily contemplate dishing out four hundred 59:59's if there are any further incidents in the near future.
SRG Oct 2018 1:48pm, 6 Oct 2018 9 posts	Quote Pin SRG For the skeptics regarding the Bushy Park TT poster, I've just went and pulled the following out of the Ranelagh Harriers news archives from 29/9/04. It seems a little cynical to suggest that there is some kind of conspiracy. "RANELAGH WEEKLY BUSHY PARK TIME TRIAL This Saturday sees the inaugural Ranelagh weekly 5km time trial in Bushy Park. Start is at 9am sharp from the big car park by the Diana Fountain (close to the Hampton Court entrance). This event will be held every Saturday morning from now on. No pre-entry is required - just turn up and run. See our web site for full details including course map. Paul Sinton-Hewitt is the main organiser, and the intention is that only the minimum number of helpers will be required. But Paul would be pleased to hear from anyone who can help regularly or occasionally" Source: ranelagh-harriers.com As for the comment that it's suspect that the original model is a bit too perfectly fitting with today's parkrun aims, why would that be surprising given that everything has been steered according to PSH's original vision? Go check the history. From event #4 you had parents jogging round with their young kids in >30 mins. By event #9 the last finishers were nearer 40 minutes. The actual myth is that parkrun was originally for elite runners; and that seems to be something that comes out of the mouths of people who came to parkrun much later and don't know the history. Listen/read interviews from PSH from down the years and "for everyone" it's something that he's always said.
bonners Oct 2018 2:54pm, 6 Oct 2018 908 posts	Quote Pin bonners Really interesting post, thanks for the info SRG
larkim Oct 2018 2:56pm, 6 Oct 2018 5,738 posts	Quote Pin larkim Parkrun: What's all the fuss about? bbc.co.uk BBC article today. Jeez, you can’t move without being reminded of parkrun these days!!
Lizzie W Oct 2018 2:56pm, 6 Oct 2018 18,442 posts	Quote Pin Lizzie W Thanks SRG. Fetch, I always thought muggles in this context to be non-parkrunning park users, not derogatory.
bonners Oct 2018 2:57pm, 6 Oct 2018 909 posts	Quote Pin bonners Same as Lizzie, I thought muggle was a bit of gentle fetch humour.
Spideog Oct 2018 3:14pm, 6 Oct 2018 233 posts	Quote Pin Spideog @SRG: The scepticism came from it only now appearing for the first time, which struck me as odd it hadn't been rolled out before.
Fragile Do Not Bend Oct 2018 5:02pm, 6 Oct 2018 3,454 posts	Quote Pin Fragile Do Not Bend Muggle is a term often used by groups of people taking part in an activity to refer to people not taking part in that activity, not as a derogatory term. I used to be a keen geocacher many years ago and the term was in regular use to refer to non-geocachers, probably as it’s a fairly secretive activity.
larkim Oct 2018 5:22pm, 6 Oct 2018 5,739 posts	Quote Pin larkim Yep, muggle in common use definitely doesn't carry any negative connotations - it's just "someone who isn't doing what we're doing". Another sort of ex geocacher here