Let's talk about inaugural parkruns after they've happened.
3 lurkers |
310 watchers
Feb 2019
3:06pm, 12 Feb 2019
322 posts
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BexleyKev
Uyuni - my favourite events are small in number but big in character.
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Feb 2019
4:15pm, 12 Feb 2019
26,335 posts
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LindsD
Rushmoor and Brooklands both have trail sections by a river/canal. Actually not sure if Rushmoor is metalled. |
Feb 2019
10:38pm, 12 Feb 2019
81 posts
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Lloydparkrunner
Bexley Kev, I fully support the establishment of more parkruns in poorer communities. If there are poor areas that do not have a parkrun we should be encouraging locals to communicate so that one can be established. Someone was showing me how to get some useful info off the parkrun wiki site tonight & I noticed that people living in the SM4 (Morden postcode) don't seem to be going to Kingston, Tooting Common, Roundshaw Downs or Nonsuch parkruns so they could definately do with one. I will have a look & see what less affluent areas could do with a parkrun. I imagine those in Gravesend would support Shorne Woods, Chatham already has one of it's own Great Lines, there is one in Sittingbourne which is quite a run down place & two in Dartford. South Africa has done well at setting up parkruns in poorer communities the U.K. should try & emulate them. |
Feb 2019
8:17am, 13 Feb 2019
18,358 posts
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DeeGee
Ah yes, but in South Africa taking part in parkrun provides heavily discounted healthcare, so there's a significant financial incentive. Whereas in the UK it gives points that can be spent on coffee if you have a certain life insurance policy. All rather middle-class, I reckon. That wiki is useful when you look at the number of registrations in a certain area, and I've certainly used it to wave at potential funders. |
Feb 2019
9:29am, 13 Feb 2019
297 posts
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Spideog
There is more required than just sticking a parkrun in the middle of a deprived area to then get the residents of that area to participate. Running is a very white middle class pursuit, in the UK, so it's just not going to be on the radar of certain groups as something they would be even slightly interested in. Even all the national social media campaigns about how awesome parkrun is and that anyone can participate and you can walk are not going to make a whole lot of difference as it still won't appear on the radar of the groups they are trying to reach. Needs to be done on a very local level. Setup the event, but that event then needs to actively target the groups that can benefit from it, but by then you may find that then event has been overrun by middle class people driving in from miles away to run the event and then buggering off again straight afterwards to find a better class of coffee shop. |
Feb 2019
9:44am, 13 Feb 2019
52 posts
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JJJ
Agree with Spideog - we have a local parkrun right in the middle of the big council estates and it only gets small numbers with many of those travelling in - there are a few locals who aren't 'real' runners but are there every week so it is having a positive effect on them but not on as many as it could do. In comparison the other nearby runs in the more affluent areas get big numbers. |
Feb 2019
9:57am, 13 Feb 2019
1,541 posts
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Uyuni
No-one is going to accuse Clifton parkrun of ever being overrun by the middle classes of West Bridgford – they are all at Rushcliffe  As far as I know Clifton was set up a year ago by regulars at Rushcliffe who lived in Clifton and wanted an event in their own neighbourhood. The course probably isn’t ideal, but there are no major problems and the demographics meant that numbers were always likely to be low. It’s popular with cani-crossers as they don’t get shouted at by speedsters wanting to smash out a good time – they are all at Long Eaton Population-wise Clifton is a very big and so it has great potential. I’m not sure how much “promotion” as such they do, but just by being there every week I’m sure that it will grow slowly. I hope that the core team don’t get discouraged by the relatively low numbers, but the few times I’ve been over it has always seemed like a very cheerful affair so I imagine that they are just getting on with it without worrying too much. |
Feb 2019
10:07am, 13 Feb 2019
30,422 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Over 100 finishers at Clifton doesn't sound that small. Maybe it's different here in Scotland. Under 100 isn't unusual in some areas up here. But no one seems to mind! G
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Feb 2019
10:08am, 13 Feb 2019
25,663 posts
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LazyDaisy
There's also the issue of it being 'free'. Yes, the run itself is free, but in the deprived areas I used to work in the trainers people wore could easily have been their only pair of shoes. They would be unlikely to have the spare cash for proper running shoes and be unwilling to get their footwear filthy running round a field or worn out more quickly. (Please don't tell me about money spent on ciggies and huge TVs, yes there were families like that but there were also genuinely poor folk too.) I feel the way to encourage more participation in parkrun in these hard-to-reach areas is actually to put the focus more on junior parkrun. If families go along to that (it's shorter, and probably less overwhelmed by the middle class runner, and children are easier to motivate as a rule than unfit adults who've never run) they could well want to move on to adult parkrun once they feel comfortable that parkrun really does include them. The cost thing might be less of a problem as kids shoes are cheaper to replace. |
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Feb 2019
1:50pm, 13 Feb 2019
82 posts
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Lloydparkrunner
All very interesting comments guys. I agree that it would be good to target young children in poorer communities before they have developed obesity problems. If they get into the habit of running at a young age it may encourage them to keep up with it. Also interesting to hear about courses in the UK that attract less middle class people. I agree that setting up a parkrun in a poorer community is likely to be harder & the hardest job in those areas may be building a core team if people lead a more sedentary lifestyle or are more interested in other activities. However, it is important to encourage people to be more active to deal with the obesity problems we have in the UK & ease the burden on the NHS. Don't parkrunners qualify for cheaper Vitality Health Insurance? |
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