Introduction

The parkrun course record and age grade stats have been removed for over two months. In the interim people who want them back are considered boring. Really? That’s the best counter point people can come up with? All I can think about here is how most of parkrun is boring. Seriously we get up Saturday morning go for a 5k plod, most of us don’t stay for the coffee afterwards because we have lives much more intersting lives or is it the cost of living? At some point if parkrun is serious about decreasing competition they have to remove any mention of coffee afterwards. It is now expensive (up 27% more by US Dollars/lbs in 2024) and likely to remain so for quite some time. This is the level of ridiculous we’re about to go too if we let HQ keep hacking away at parkruns stats and gamification. HQ are wildly ignoring the evidence surrounding how gamification works to increase adherence in almost all settings. HQ have done nothing to address the time barrier most frequently reported by those who do not get regular physical activity.

Anything that makes running, walking, jogging or crawling that 5k every Saturday morning more interesting should be welcomed with open arms and enhanced not removed. Protests online via comments on parkruns social media channels appear to be actively supressed. A show down meeting set for April 27th 2024 with parkruns CEO is in my opinion likely to be little more than a way for HQ to say they listened and then wipe their hands of the matter. The way HQ treat volunteers and participants sometimes it’s like they believe we’ve accepted that freedom of speech and expression is not allowed here. However just because you signed up for a barcode does not mean you have given away those freedoms. You have every right to voice an opinion even if it is boring, parkrun are not the law they are not the government and even if they were they have no right whatsoever to ostracise you. All of the above is not what parkrun Heaven looks look like. If you were looking for parkrun Heaven then head over to Hartstown parkrun and find it every Saturday morning.

Hartstown parkrun was HEAVEN. The course travels around a number of community amenities playground, GAA pitches, Soccer pitches, outdoor gym equipment. A haven of physical activity. If I had been running around with anyone from HQ I would have taken pleasure in pointing out the competitive sport surrounding the parkrun participants and then laughed when one or all one hundred of the Hartstown parkrunners howled ‘nobody cares about that’ as they hurried towards a PB. The Hartstown team fit so well into the community the GAAs premier youth competition the Féile was taking place in the same park at the same time. Hartstown have pulled off a master class of community integration. The parents watching from the sidelines had one eye on the parkrun participants as they were hurtling past. More than once a friendly good morning was exchanged.

Journey Around parkrun

Julie and I celebrated our 38th different parkrun at Hartstown. Parkrun prefer not celebrate tourism now because they are trying to act in the best interests of the environment. They fail to realise that if they encourage people to be stagnant in the economy the money available for green investment will fall. Long before that investment falls the tax base parkrun still depends will gone along with parkrun. It is the mode people use to get to parkrun that matters and I keep seeing more participants turning up in electric cars or on bicycles. Julie and I have put solar panels on the roof of the house next up is pave the front garden and get an electric charging point into the house. And before anyone yells the back garden is wild and I have my ecology notes ready for when we set up a beehive.

Course

Course Video

Stroller safe

This was probably the best course I ever took the stroller around. It is incredibly flat and curves gently meaning no sharp course corrections. I found a rhythm easily and stuck to it. At one point I was watching the GAA as I was finding it so easy to move around the course.

Live a Little

Someone congratulated me on finishing first in the buggy race. I was glad to hear this even if that race was a figment of our imagination manifesting itself as friendly competition. My live a little moment advice for you is take whatever win you have in front of you at parkrun. I keep telling people getting out of bed on Saturday morning is the hardest part. If you’ve moved at parkrun you’ve down something great for your health.

Volunteers

I couldn’t resist jumping in for some impromptu barcode scanning. Given the opportunity you should do the same though if can please contact hartstown@parkrun.com to let them know you can volunteer I’m sure they will appreciate it.

Conclusion

HQ of parkrun are boring and I intend to stop writing about them for fear that you might take a Hurley to me the next time we meet. Heaven awaits you in Hartstown parkrun. Make haste and go before HQ decide to ban tourism outright.