Parkrun..

rainbow kirby

diceyreilly wrote: »

Think it’s shortly after the sun comes up in every country.
9am in the U.K.
9 be too early in Ireland as still dark in Connaught at 9 am in the winter.

9:30 start actually came from Scotland originally.

No parkrun for me today thanks to poorly toddler.

Lazare

Corkagh was run in reverse today in honour of the day that was in it. The first time parkrun has ever ran on Feb 29th.
Won't happen again for another 28 years or so.


Was good craic.

robinph

diceyreilly wrote: »

Think it’s shortly after the sun comes up in every country.
9am in the U.K.
9 be too early in Ireland as still dark in Connaught at 9 am in the winter.

The 9:30 in Scotland was due to a combination of the park not wanting to open up for 9am, the coffee shop not opening until 10am so they figured everyone would have left by then and I think the ED wanting a bit more of a lie in.

That time then spread from Glasgow to all other Scottish events as that ED became equivalent of country manager, NI then just copied the Scottish system and RoI then just copied the NI system.

There are a few other strange start times depending on the heat of the day in other countries, and even a couple in the USA which have a different time depending on the season, but I think that is currently unique to the USA.

Cloudio9

9.30 makes sense. People don’t want a morning rush that most already have Monday to Friday. There’d be a big drop off in numbers if it was 7 or 8.

Caprica

Ran St. Anne’s this morning, first time using my barcode since I got it 6 months ago.

Got there for 9.15 and I thought it was quiet but by 9.25 it was jammed. A total field of 574. Plenty of pacers, they started at 19 minutes, and definitely went up as far as 30. I followed the 20min guy, who did a great job. I pushed on in the home straight and got home in 19.39, he got a few of us under 20. Happy with the effort.

A very well organised run, plenty of volunteers.

jimmii

Cloudio9 wrote: »

9.30 makes sense. People don’t want a morning rush that most already have Monday to Friday. There’d be a big drop off in numbers if it was 7 or 8.

Yeah for sure I think I'd struggle to make 9 and definitely wouldn't be going to other parkruns around Edinburgh if it was that early.

plodder

robinph wrote: »

NI then just copied the Scottish system and RoI then just copied the NI system.

In effect that is what happened, though the park in Malahide (the first event in the republic) doesn't open until 9:00. So, a 9am start wasn't going to happen anyway.

Related to this, there's a proposal in the EU to get rid of daylight saving time, and if that ever happens then it's possible that parkruns will have to start later in Winter. Otherwise, you could have events starting in darkness on the West coast in the middle of Winter. Hopefully, that doesn't happen though. It's a huge benefit to have a fixed starting time that never changes.

Pawwed Rig

Starting in the dark would be a hard sell

Duzzie

ISOP wrote: »

Completed my 100th parkrun today at a very soggy Bushy Park, here's the next 100! It has been a extraordinary positive influence on my weekends for the last 3 years

London Bushy?? I went over for my parkrun pilgrimage too, it was very wet and very slippery on the run into the finish. Absolutely loved it, was a fantastic atmosphere. I would like to do it again in better weather conditions. The flight home was very bumpy too coming in to land in Dublin.

sonyvision

Ran Bath Skyline Parkrun in the UK today. I didn't know it was mostly trails, but after the heavy rain it was very wet and very muddy. Great craic, I couldn't understand why peoole stil avoided the puddles knowing they had to run through flooded fields!!.

Got covered in muck, new runners destroyed (wore them in the shower to clean) nice getting an international one ticked off the list. I would definitely do it again.

robinph

sonyvision wrote: »

Ran Bath Skyline Parkrun in the UK today. I didn't know it was mostly trails, but after the heavy rain it was very wet and very muddy. Great craic, I couldn't understand why peoole stil avoided the puddles knowing they had to run through flooded fields!!.

Got covered in muck, new runners destroyed (wore them in the shower to clean) nice getting an international one ticked off the list. I would definitely do it again.

That's my NENDY but can't do it until the kid is self propelled as I can't get a buggy up steps, also don't want to have to deal with the traffic in and out of Bath on a weekend which is horrific.

People were avoiding puddles around me today, but as I was just driving straight through them was doing a good job of sharing the mud with them. Got absolutely covered in mud myself and the buggy cover was solid mud on the sides. Even managed to get the kids legs covered through a tiny gap I'd not noticed.

Took me three minutes longer in todays mud compared to my last run on the same always pretty muddy course.

Pawwed Rig

sonyvision wrote: »

Got covered in muck, new runners destroyed (wore them in the shower to clean) nice getting an international one ticked off the list. I would definitely do it again.

Km 1 avoid the puddles and try to stay on the dry bits
Km 2 still avoiding the puddles you decide you will just give the new runners a good cleaning
Km 3 the socks are already a bit wet and the legs are getting sore so you avoid the big puddles but the small ones are par for the course. Mud is no longer a concern.
Km 4 Mud is beginning to make lifting the legs difficult. Socks are saturated you are dreaming of coffee
Km 5 Screw this. I can always get a new pair of runners. Don't give a shyte about puddles as you wade through shin deep.
Ask yourself Why do I do this parkrun shyte anyway? Where is my bloody coffee?

Next week at 8am. Yay parkrun day. Where are my old runners?

Burkie1203

Poppintree had a record attendance 246 today.

Tigerandahalf

I see Parkrun is moving towards getting rid of scanners and timers and using smartphones to time and scan tokens.
....
Times can be recorded by tapping the split section on the screen of the device, in addition, either of the two volume buttons on the side of the phone, or on plugged-in earphones, may be used to record the time. One of the earphones may be placed in the ear to hear the beep. On a cold or wet day, for example, the Timekeeper could place the phone in their pocket and they will hear a beep to confirm each participant.

If raining it is strongly advised that the volume buttons are used or the phone is protected with a waterproof case as rain on the screen can cause extra times to be recorded accidentally.
.....

I wonder whose phone will be used? Will the teams be buying a dedicated smartphone with waterproof cover?
The idea above of using the phone in your pocket doesn't seem great.
I have used the timer on cold wet days and while the hands get cold it works.

It seems all new events will be app only.

IvoryTower

I'm sure any phone can be used just install the app

Reg'stoy

IvoryTower wrote: »

I'm sure any phone can be used just install the app

IOS and Android apps available, downloaded it myself. The only snag might be when using it in heavy rain, as anyone who has ever tried to send a whatsapp message in rain will tell you, umbrella or waterproof cover should sort that out. Advice is to wear earphones, one earbud in, one out so you can hear the beep as it counts a runner finishing. Option on screen to email/share the results to a specific email address after the last finisher is home.

Will miss the security of that solid click on the old stopwatch but sure everyone panics the first time they do it, once you still check with the other timekeeper to see you are sync'ed you'll be grand.

Saw a couple of people using their phones in tymon yesterday and on that well done to the volunteers there, 4 shy of a record attendance and they handled the numbers expertly.

jimmii

Our local run has been using the app for a while and it all seems to have gone pretty smoothly. The results come out very quickly too.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Re the app, tbh I much prefer the old timers and scanners but then I'm not an RD so I know feck all about uploading the data from the old scanners and timers.

When I'm timekeeping the only issue I find with the phone is when the screen gets wet it causes problems, I haven't experienced it recording extra times but I've found the opposite, you've to really be careful that you've properly recorded someone's time (sometimes the first tap on the screen doesn't work on a wet screen)

If there's a lot of people around the finished (and really there shouldn't be) its hard to hear the bleep when you tap the phone but you can wear headphones if you want.

Scanning is were I've found the biggest problem. My Iphone is pretty new and so the battery is still pretty good. The one and only time I scanned with the phone my phone battery went from 100% to 3% in less than a hundred scans, I'd to stop the app and upload what data I had before the phone died. That said I haven't heard of anyone else having the same problem, but I won't risk scanning with it again.

A positive, scanning was great until the battery died. It was so much easier than using the old scanner.

A little niggle, but you can't tap the screen using gloves so your fingers get pretty damned cold in winter.

Tigerandahalf

The thing about using the phone though is that it has to be put into flight mode while in use, so no calls or texts can come in.
I think a lot of people would be reluctant to use their own phone especially new volunteers.
I presume one doesn't have to wait around with their smartphone for the results to be emailed etc. Not all locations might have 3G access.

One certainly shouldn't have to hand over their phone at any stage.

It can't cost that much for timers and scanners.

When I tried the app it didn't seem to add positions, e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd. It just gave the split times.
Do they have to be manually added in or what?

arybvtcw0eolkf

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

The thing about using the phone though is that it has to be put into flight mode while in use, so no calls or texts can come in.
I think a lot of people would be reluctant to use their own phone especially new volunteers.
I presume one doesn't have to wait around with their smartphone for the results to be emailed etc. Not all locations might have 3G access.

One certainly shouldn't have to hand over their phone at any stage.

It can't cost that much for timers and scanners.

No you don't have to upload the data immediately, you can do it from anywhere with an internet connection and you don't have to hand over your phone. You just attach the data to an email to your parkrun and that's it.

Being out of touch because you're in flight mode could be an issue for some people.

corcaigh07

If your phone is 100% battery starting out and the battery is in a good condition, you should have enough battery for scanning or timing, even if you don’t put the phone in aeroplane mode.

Never knew about the volume buttons for timing on the app, that’s very handy. I reverted to the regular stopwatch mid run recently because it was raining so badly, touchscreen wasn’t working.

Tigerandahalf

You have to put the phone in flight mode as a call or text will take you out of the app thus possibly missing a runner coming over the line.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Wet screen problem solved

Ted_YNWA

One other handy benefit of phone scanning, you can do both finish token & barcode at same time once there in the one camera view.

I've used the app for both functions a few times with no issues.

If you had an old phone, you could donate to core team and use that. Just use a wifi connection to email data in.

Skid X

Volunteer Email wrote:

If raining it is strongly advised that the volume buttons are used or the phone is protected with a waterproof case as rain on the screen can cause extra times to be recorded accidentally.

Is the volume button on a phone really designed to be battered hundreds of times in a few minutes?

I'd be reluctant to use my phone in that manner

arybvtcw0eolkf

Skid X wrote: »

Is the volume button on a phone really designed to be battered hundreds of times in a few minutes?

I'd be reluctant to use my phone in that manner

You 'batter' your phone?.

I can't imagine using the volume buttons a few hundred times (for the bigger runs) will cause any problems, and considering the amount of times most people volunteer I can't see it being an issue at all.

Personally I think if using the volume buttons work I'll be timing like that so, at least I can keep a glove on then.

Dudda

I think I’ve done the barcode two or three times and the timing twice with the app on my own phone which is four years old and well due an upgrade.

The barcode part is without doubt better. My old phone camera has autofocus and that definitely helps scan faster. In addition it can take barcodes from anything particularly screens which is useful. You can download the barcode widgit to your garmin watch and it will scan. I’ve used my watch successfully over the last two weeks in storms although I had the printed barcode in the car if needed.
This is what I use but others are available - https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/494d7840-d4c5-4410-88b8-5d5a7624ced9#0

It will scan a screenshot of your parkrun barcode from another phone screen too. The original scanners couldn’t do this. Our parkrun has about 80-100 per week and only the one barcode scanner. You can get a bit of a queue forming for scanning around the 24-30 minute when most come home. This isn’t as much of an issue with the faster app. Once all are scanned I email the file to the local parkrun and my job is done. The first time I also exported it to Google Drive as backup but now I just don’t reset it and close the app. Open the app 2-3 a few hours later and the times are still there should the RD contact you with an issue. They haven’t.

For the timing part I’m not sure I notice a difference as a volunteer. If they added an undo button it would really help for any accidental press. Without doubt exporting and emailing it makes it faster for the RD.

Just to note anyone can download the app and play with it. I did and practiced scanning my own barcode and playing with the timer at home. It’s a good idea so the first time you use it isn’t at the parkrun when you don’t want to be making mistakes.
Haven’t volunteered in a few weeks so doing it again this weekend.

py

Dudda wrote: »

You can download the barcode widgit to your garmin watch and it will scan. I’ve used my watch successfully over the last two weeks in storms although I had the printed barcode in the car if needed.
This is what I use but others are available - https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/494d7840-d4c5-4410-88b8-5d5a7624ced9#0

This is a great little widget but I do feel some people miss an important point of having your printed barcode or an official barcode wristband with you. Sure you get your time but it's all about the ICE details. The incident at Bushy park Dublin last year could've went smoother had the person in question had their barcode + ICE details in tow. Nobody knew who they were or whom to contact in an emergency. For the volunteers to start navigating through your watch/phone for ICE details is unreasonable.

Sunny Dayz

I haven't used the app as yet for timing or scanning as yet but I have seen it used at other parkruns.
Just my opinion but I feel like it's putting more responsibility or onus on volunteers. At my local parkrun, if you are volunteering you just show up (hopefully suitably attired for the weather). You don't have to prepare or do anything else in advance. You are given your timer, scanner, tokens, marshal post etc. On a Friday night we often don't have enough volunteers - and hope someone will rock up the following morning to put themselves forward or appeal for a participant to forgo their run. They seem to find it hard enough to get volunteers as it is, never mind saying you have to now download these apps, make sure your phone is charged, email this etc.

robinph

py wrote: »

This is a great little widget but I do feel some people miss an important point of having your printed barcode or an official barcode wristband with you. Sure you get your time but it's all about the ICE details. The incident at Bushy park Dublin last year could've went smoother had the person in question had their barcode + ICE details in tow. Nobody knew who they were or whom to contact in an emergency. For the volunteers to start navigating through your watch/phone for ICE details is unreasonable.

The person you contact in an emergency is 999.

Any ICE details someone might have on them are not for the use of parkrun volunteers unless the person in question offers you those details themselves. I've used my printed ICE details in this manner numerous times when it's been too tricky for me to get across what I needed to say and having it written down saves me valuable brainpower and a call to 999, but it's not for someone else to help themselves to that information and if someone isn't in a state to convey that then you call 999.

If someone is unconscious then you call 999, if someone is conscious but doesn't remember who they are or where they are then you call 999. There is no reason at all for a parkrun volunteer* to be needing someones ICE details.


*If they happen to also be a medic of some description and can make use of the details then it's a different matter, but that is in their role as a medic not as a parkrun volunteer.

robinph

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

I haven't used the app as yet for timing or scanning as yet but I have seen it used at other parkruns.
Just my opinion but I feel like it's putting more responsibility or onus on volunteers. At my local parkrun, if you are volunteering you just show up (hopefully suitably attired for the weather). You don't have to prepare or do anything else in advance. You are given your timer, scanner, tokens, marshal post etc. On a Friday night we often don't have enough volunteers - and hope someone will rock up the following morning to put themselves forward or appeal for a participant to forgo their run. They seem to find it hard enough to get volunteers as it is, never mind saying you have to now download these apps, make sure your phone is charged, email this etc.

The app is great in that it save parkrun money, it simplifies the processing of results, it save parkrun buying and supporting the scanners and timing hardware, reduces the need for laptop for each event.

But as you say it does throw up a good few other issues like needing people to use their own phones, battery chargers, phones out in rain, pressing buttons/ phone screens in the rain, pressing phone buttons several times a second in the rain not being as accurate as a specific stopwatch (not sure if they have used the phone app at Bushy, London yet but would expect it would struggle with their rate of finishers), mobile network coverage for sending in results in some locations, people not emailing in results. I've also seen a couple of posts online where random non-volunteers decided to start using the app themselves to scan barcodes because the queues were getting long, but then they might disappear without emailing in the scans and the event team had no idea who the person was.

The app is great, but I think they could have through through a few of the issues a bit more first, and probably shouldn't be posting about it on their social media as if it's there for everyone to use at any parkrun without being an actual volunteer on the day.

Dudda

Only scanners and timbers use the volunteer app. All others helping don’t need to download or use any app. If worried about you’re phone hand out barcode tokens or marshal instead. It shouldn’t put you off volunteering.

However ALL volunteers should really have a charged phone with them. Sure you may have a walkie talkie at some events but if someone has a heart attack, hit by a car or falls into a fast flowing river in front of me I’ll ring emergency services and get on the walkie talkie to the race director straight after. Otherwise you’re trying to pass info to the race director who’s passing it onto emergency services and may not have all the details.

The reason I think it’s good to use you’re own phone for scanning and timekeeping (rather than a supplied parkrun phone) is it’s the one you’re more familiar with and therefore will have less anxiety about using. That’s what I find.

carter10

The technology is there now that we should not have to even have scanners phones or handheld. If I run a local 10k or half marathon my Strava will tell me x amount of other runners ran the same route at the same time. Im wondering if Strava/Parkrun are missing a trick here.
People would have to have either a watch, Garmin etc or a phone. No results processing after, no messing around with scanners or phones. Less volunteers needed.

Thoughts?

jimmii

Only problem with that is that sometimes the tech does let you down. Depends on people actually using the equipment correctly I've seen plenty of experienced runners who have not started or ended the run on the watch or it has run out of battery etc and not everyone even has a watch. Also sometimes they seem to play up. People often don't upload their runs straight away so means you might not get the full result for a few days. Nice idea in theory but don't think it really works in practice. Maybe if Strava threw a load of money at parkrun that might insist on that's how its timed but seems unlikely.

carter10

jimmii wrote: »

Only problem with that is that sometimes the tech does let you down. Depends on people actually using the equipment correctly I've seen plenty of experienced runners who have not started or ended the run on the watch or it has run out of battery etc and not everyone even has a watch. Also sometimes they seem to play up. People often don't upload their runs straight away so means you might not get the full result for a few days. Nice idea in theory but don't think it really works in practice. Maybe if Strava threw a load of money at parkrun that might insist on that's how its timed but seems unlikely.

I have used a phone then watch since about 2012 - have never run out of battery and have forgotten to 'end' a run maybe twice. The onus would be on the runner to have properly functioning equipment. My current watch synchs with my phone automatically- don't have to manually upload.

jimmii

carter10 wrote: »

I have used a phone then watch since about 2012 - have never run out of battery and have forgotten to 'end' a run maybe twice. The onus would be on the runner to have properly functioning equipment. My current watch synchs with my phone automatically- don't have to manually upload.

That's great that you do that but not everyone does. The whole point of parkrun is that it's really open for anyone to just show up and run saying you need a certain bit of equipment is kind of against the whole ethos of it. Yes for the a lot of people this would be workable but it wouldn't be for everyone.

jimmii

Looking at strava it would need to improve how it records the participants too. On my run it says I ran with 10 others yet when I go look at someone I follow who did it theirs is with a different set of 12 runners.

robinph

carter10 wrote: »

The technology is there now that we should not have to even have scanners phones or handheld. If I run a local 10k or half marathon my Strava will tell me x amount of other runners ran the same route at the same time. Im wondering if Strava/Parkrun are missing a trick here.
People would have to have either a watch, Garmin etc or a phone. No results processing after, no messing around with scanners or phones. Less volunteers needed.

Thoughts?

Whilst it would be relatively easy to do something like that for the pointy end of the field where everyone has a Garmin and fancy cheating Nike shoes, it wouldn't help with the part of the field that can gain the most from parkrun who have never done any regular exercise previously and have no idea what a Garmin is.

To keep it as accessible to all, and that means anyone who wouldn't be posting on here, they need to have minimal requirements for participating. Just printing out a barcode is as simple as it gets.

Duzzie

carter10 wrote: »

The technology is there now that we should not have to even have scanners phones or handheld. If I run a local 10k or half marathon my Strava will tell me x amount of other runners ran the same route at the same time. Im wondering if Strava/Parkrun are missing a trick here.
People would have to have either a watch, Garmin etc or a phone. No results processing after, no messing around with scanners or phones. Less volunteers needed.

Thoughts?

The idea is that the system works for and is the same for all events. There is also the principle that parkrun is for everyone, regardless of means. I see a lot of people doing parkruns who dont use GPS watches. I suspect that would be even more the case in less affluent countries such as South Africa. The system also has to work for Junior events, so cannot see that as being a viable alternative to the current system.

As for using the app, I find the app much better for barcode scanning as it is far more accurate and gives you a visual indication of a successful scan. We tend to use the app for scanning for that reason. I am less convinced by the timekeeping side of the app. We used it once when it was raining and every raindrop that fell on the screen registered as a finisher. We tend to stick to the stopwatches for timings

arybvtcw0eolkf

jimmii wrote: »

Looking at strava it would need to improve how it records the participants too. On my run it says I ran with 10 others yet when I go look at someone I follow who did it theirs is with a different set of 12 runners.

I know this question is off topic so I hope there's a quick answer. I hate this feature on Strava, is there anyway of turning it off?.

EasyG

"Fancy cheating Nike shoes"
I like it

TFBubendorfer

Jamir Warm Hamstring wrote: »

I know this question is off topic so I hope there's a quick answer. I hate this feature on Strava, is there anyway of turning it off?.

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216919497-Group-Activities, scroll down to the "Leaving a Group" topic

Sunny Dayz

jimmii wrote: »

Maybe if Strava threw a load of money at parkrun that might insist on that's how its timed but seems unlikely.

parkrun used to be linked with Strava a number of years ago. If you had your strava account linked in your parkrun account - a strava symbol used to show beside your result, where the milestones were displayed at the end of your results line. I'm assuming either Strava or parkun cut the support for that feature.

jimmii

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

parkrun used to be linked with Strava a number of years ago. If you had your strava account linked in your parkrun account - a strava symbol used to show beside your result, where the milestones were displayed at the end of your results line. I'm assuming either Strava or parkun cut the support for that feature.

Oh yeah I remember that. Must have only been dropped recently I recall seeing it there last year for sure.

arybvtcw0eolkf

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216919497-Group-Activities, scroll down to the "Leaving a Group" topic

Cheers, I've only one group but I don't like that my Strava often shows I've ran with someone even if I've just ran with them briefly.

I swim with a few of them too, it doesn't show pool swims but it does open water swims so I guess its something to do with GPS coverage (I'm not that techie).

robinph

jimmii wrote: »

Oh yeah I remember that. Must have only been dropped recently I recall seeing it there last year for sure.

It quietly disappeared, but think it was longer than a year ago.

I think that neither side actually figured out a decent way to use the feature for their benefit, although there are still Strava groups for a lot of events so you can join and see what regulars at your event are doing. It was interesting to have the link, but didn't really provide anything that was going to expand parkruns reach into non running groups.

robinph

Jamir Warm Hamstring wrote: »

Cheers, I've only one group but I don't like that my Strava often shows I've ran with someone even if I've just ran with them briefly.

I swim with a few of them too, it doesn't show pool swims but it does open water swims so I guess its something to do with GPS coverage (I'm not that techie).

If you open the Strava Fly By feature on any run you've done, well one where there might have been other Strava users running around the same area at least, it will show you your trace. Next to that you'll see a list of icons for other people whose runs intersected with yours to varying degrees. During a race or parkrun there should be a bunch of people listed with high ratings for how similar their runs were, but even for a training run where you might only be running with some mates for a short section before you head home in a different direction it will show them as having done a similar route at a similar time.

To stop showing on the Flyby I think you'd need to change your Strava to private. You can do it on individual runs basis as well I think so you leave races as public.

Dipsomaniac

robinph wrote: »

To stop showing on the Flyby I think you'd need to change your Strava to private. You can do it on individual runs basis as well I think so you leave races as public.

Hi, from:
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015478252-Flybys-Privacy-Controls

You can set your Flyby Privacy Controls to private without making your actual runs private. Instructions at link.

Cheers

Sunny Dayz

I was run director today. After set up, I was walking across the sports grounds from the finish area back to the start. I spotted some black plastic on the ground and picked it up.
It was my son’s parkrun wristband!. He wasn’t at parkrun this morning and didn’t even know it was missing. It’s broken and well trampled on. But the chances of me finding it in the middle of a pitch!

jimmii

Ran Portobello today and got a great ego check half way through a woman in her 40s pushing a pram absolutely tore past me lol! I'm not fast but definitely don't expect people with prams to be going last me!