Oranmore parkrun | Roar in Oranmore

Date of Visit: 4/02/2023

Introduction

I can feel the roaring anger from the general public of Ireland this week. It’s gotten into the air like a virus. Like that moment in 2020 when I saw the R number for COVID-19 was probably as high as 5.28. I could feel the danger in my bones. The housing crisis in Ireland is being manipulated by the far right and weaponised against people fleeing war and persecution. We’ve seen real problems used to energise a far right narrative before. The Facism that emerged over 100 years ago had real problems to harness anger as well. Blaming someone else or some group is easy. You don’t need to explain much just make it easy give people a target to vent their anger at. It’s easier than the slog of solving the problem over time. It’s easier again when you realise you’re not the only person feeling angry. When you’re not the only one with the problem. If you have a group in the pressure cooker for a while it’s usually more explosive.

I’m worried this bubbling anger seen by protests at immigration centers in Ireland is spilling into every corner of life in different ways. In Oranmore we learned about the struggle that the volunteer team has undertaken. Asking parkrun HQ if they could be sent some spare finish tokens they were told they could buy them and use their fundraising account. The account was empty similar to a lot of parkruns. I’ve fundraised several times and it’s the hardest job in the world. You can have the best cause in the world but 99% of people don’t want to give you their money. My mother was a fundraiser for 15 years and every time there was a scandal hit the newspaper headlines involving a charities accounts being pilfered every cause took a hit. It didn’t matter if the cause had no ties to the scandal. People just stopped donating because the collective trust was in doubt. You don’t have to look far to find a parkrun money scandal. And the recent of board of trustee appointments have kicked up a huge backlash in parts of the UK. Most of the parkrun teams I’ve encountered are lucky to have people volunteer for an hour a week. They’re into running not corporate finance. You can’t tell people on one hand the run is free, weekly and timed and on the other hand apply stealth payment terms and conditions when it suits you. We didn’t sign up to run, pay casual donations, timed and weekly. We definitely don’t enjoy being told fundraise while the now former parkrun CEO collects a kickback.

A lot of the parkrun teams I’ve met are still struggling after the pandemic. More than one crew has said their getting sick of it. The parkrun workload is falling to two or three key people. I’m starting to hear the same stories across the country now. I’m getting progressively more worried that the everyday volunteer is being totally taken for granted on top every other part of their stressful lives. Why would they keep turning up to parkrun if this continues? In the 21st century other options are readily available. Maybe what I should do is ask Michael O’Leary for advice on setting up a rival to parkrun?

Recently a friend asked how come more people my age don’t volunteer. I shrugged not wanting to ruin the parkrun atmosphere. I thought about it more than once in the last few weeks. Then I heard a Newstalk FM Radio snippet about how only one in three people know their neighbours name. The radio presenters were appalled. I know exactly why this is the case. If they’re in my millenial category they’re probably renting which is by definition short term in Ireland. It’s also unstable they don’t want to be on their neighbours radar for fear the neighbour will complain about something to the landlord that results in eviction so they completely avoid contact with them. This spills over into other areas. If you’re only around a community for a short time why would you start building connections? And if you did and the parkrun RD started getting you into fundraising your response would almost definitely be “I’m here for short good time, I’m getting cleaned out just paying my rent, just leave me alone on my run”. I can see how this gnaws at my generation. It gnaws at me. I can see why my generation are leaving Ireland quickly. The Sunday Independent reports that skilled trade workers are being offered wages of €162,000 a year, visa and relocation included to come live and work in Australia. I’ve never been offered anything close to that opportunity in Ireland. I have however lost a chance to buy a house because the bank considered my job unstable due to the pandemic. I switched careers and that same profession is now in a severe labour shortage. I’m not alone but I can feel the patience around me wearing thin. It’s a multi factorial anger but it feels like the message is you must accept 40% less for your life.

I can feel a roar coming. I can see fire starting to appear in the eyes of many. They’ve been asked for more, given more too many times and then had to fight for the basics of the social contract. They’re about to roar back and I’m worried it will be extreme and push us all apart. All of this was rattling threw my head and then at Oranmore the first thing you see is the memorial below. We haven’t lived up to it yet.

Journey to parkrun

Julie and I were on a baby moon in the g hotel Galway. This was gift from Christmas 2021 from Julie’s siblings. I was shocked to receive such a wonderful gift. My jaw dropped on receiving it. I was totally taken aback. This was our first opportunity to use the gift. We enjoyed it immensely even if the little one has started keeping Julie awake with little kicks at night.

Course

With all my earlier concerns aside the team at Oranmore are lovely. The course is a two and a third laps of Rinville park or everything great about the Wild Atlantic way. At the memorial start point directly behind you is the Atlantic ocean. From the memorial you’ll run past the castle also the finish line and up a gentle slope through some lovely forest land. Turn left you’ll come out of the forest. Look right and see the rolling hills. More forest will welcome you soon and then right up the hill battling the Atlantic wind, left across the small patch of grassland then down the hill to the memorial turning right onto the second lap. Fly around again and finish at the castle. It will pass in the blink of an eye. There really is that much to take in.

Live a Little

On the North East side of the park look right and look at the rolling hills. Now we weren’t there on a sunny Oranmore morning but I could see those green field hills and I was convinced those hills c sing when the sun is out. The morning we visited just past those hills you run threw some forest land and the birds were chirping and tweeting. Maybe the hills didn’t sing when I was there but the birds did. Oranmore parkrun has a huge amount of life in it. Let that energise you as well.

I was finished about 20 mins before Julie (Wife). By the castle 2 small kids were running on the back platform by the castle high fiving after every little sprint. We’re expecting our first child in May 2023 I enjoyed seeing these two kids. I was hoping my future child might be doing this at parkrun with a friend.

Volunteers

The core team had things in the words of the RD ‘down to a tee’. I couldn’t help but notice the team smiling as the RD gave them a wonderful acknowlegement at the safety briefing. I could see real synergy in that team and it was beautiful. After Julie finished I spent a minute highlighting the beauty of their parkrun. I could see the Oranmore team were very proud of their parkrun. If you want to volunteer the contact email for Oranmore parkrun is oranmore@parkrun.com.

Conclusion

Oranmore parkrun will as with current social affairs in this life leave you roaring “More!!!”.

Quote of the Week

I believe we are on an irreversible trend towards more freedom and democracy, but that could change. Dan Quayle