Parkrun..

BeepBeep67

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

That's a good idea, get people to do OT run and then hopefully many of them will stay on afterwards when Parkrun starts up.


My local Parkrun has been small enough since it started. Huge crowds now since OT have their run in conjunction. I just hope that when OT finishes up that many of these people will stay coming to Parkrun as it's great to see a big crowd out!

It's great to see, but I imagine it will be like Gym membership and will taper off after the initial enthusiasm.
If the parkruns retain 20% of the additional OT groups, that would be a success.

Firedance

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

It's great to see, but I imagine it will be like Gym membership and will taper off after the initial enthusiasm.
If the parkruns retain 20% of the additional OT groups, that would be a success.

TBH I think we'll have more success than they gyms simply by virtue of the community feel the parkruns have, especially if run directors can get the OT people to volunteer, once you get involved with volunteering then you're more likely to stay on - I could be wrong but I'd hope people will feel they belong more at a local PR than the local gym who only want your euro's...

robinph

It takes time to get people hooked on parkrun. Each week the number of first timers may be between 10-20% at any run (just counting those who went to the bother of registering for a barcode), but the total attendance will only creep up for the event at a much slower rate. 20,000 first timers for the last few weeks globally, but total runners never actually jumps by that much or we'd be into the millions running each week already.

edisonolmy

Erris on Feb 20 according to Facebook. It's my weekend off Stormont duty so I'll probably go. Might have to stop over actually.

edisonolmy

Official site
http://www.parkrun.ie/erris/

edisonolmy

Actually 5 hour drive to Belmullet. Definitely need a B&B for that one

charkee

good to see father collins park run clongriffin increasing numbers.will be a fast course come spring.

ger664

Neady83 wrote: »

The Kilrush (Vandeleur) parkrun has been running as an Operation Transformation 5km run/walk for the past 3 weeks and will run for the duration of OT. My guess is that it will kick off as an official parkrun following the wrapping up of OT.

Due to start on the 5th of March

BeenMadAgain

robinph wrote: »

It takes time to get people hooked on parkrun. Each week the number of first timers may be between 10-20% at any run (just counting those who went to the bother of registering for a barcode), but the total attendance will only creep up for the event at a much slower rate. 20,000 first timers for the last few weeks globally, but total runners never actually jumps by that much or we'd be into the millions running each week already.

It was 3 months after my first parkrun til I did my second. I went a bit too fast because I was trying to beat a mate (or should that be finish before him? ;o), but of course he reeled me in in the last km. Once I'd recovered from that, I started to do them more regularly. The biggest obstacle I had was not knowing about parkrun - I'd been living in Leeds for a year and running in a local park there but never realised that there were a couple of parkruns nearby (because I didn't know parkrun even existed). Hopefully OT will make lots more people aware of their local parkruns, which can only be good for participation.

robinph

The OT thing, and parkrun being involved in it, is actually a bit of a change in direction for parkrun as they specifically don't go out of their way to publicise events too much and leave them to grow more by word of mouth and similar models. The idea being that the numbers will be more sustainable over the long term if it grows at a steady pace from word of mouth, whereas if you have a big publicity drive then you'll have local event teams overwhelmed in the short term, and then numbers go way down again afterwards.

Hope that the OT people do keep up with their running/ parkrunning, but it is bound to have a drop in numbers once the TV cameras stop rolling.

robinph

The OT thing, and parkrun being involved in it, is actually a bit of a change in direction for parkrun as they specifically don't go out of their way to publicise events too much and leave them to grow more by word of mouth and similar models. The idea being that the numbers will be more sustainable over the long term if it grows at a steady pace from word of mouth, whereas if you have a big publicity drive then you'll have local event teams overwhelmed in the short term, and then numbers go way down again afterwards.

Hope that the OT people do keep up with their running/ parkrunning, but it is bound to have a drop in numbers once the TV cameras stop rolling.

edisonolmy

We typically have our couch to 5k groups `graduate' at parkrun. Numbers are huge on graduation day at Ormeau where we have 2 separate programmes taking part in their first 5k at the same time.

Numbers drop off but a good few keep running.

edisonolmy

Tramore Valley off this weekend

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have just been informed by Cork City Council they have withdrawn their permission to us to hold a parkrun this Saturday, because of the number of cars coming in last Saturday, more than the park's parking can handle unfortunately.
We are already in talks with them, looking how we can resolve this, but at the moment we have to cancel the event on the 30th."

robinph

Eeek.

33 runners to 540 in just over a month. :eek:
I can understand the shock to the system that has caused that decision tbh.

BeepBeep67

edisonolmy wrote: »

Tramore Valley off this weekend

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have just been informed by Cork City Council they have withdrawn their permission to us to hold a parkrun this Saturday, because of the number of cars coming in last Saturday, more than the park's parking can handle unfortunately.
We are already in talks with them, looking how we can resolve this, but at the moment we have to cancel the event on the 30th."

Difficult, but try and promote car pooling.
I know for Shanganagh for example there's a large bunch coming from Wicklow Town and they meet at a pub car park and come back there for coffee afterwards.

edisonolmy

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Stormont didn't even open its small playground carpark for parkrunners, so people had to park in a nearby street or at the hotel across the road. Not sure what the hotel thinks about this.

I suppose it's different at a council run facility. Ormeau typically will have people on car park duty to handle additional numbers on days when couch to 5k programmes graduate.

BeenMadAgain

robinph wrote: »

Eeek.

33 runners to 540 in just over a month. :eek:
I can understand the shock to the system that has caused that decision tbh.

Measured from the (storms induced) low point to the (OT induced) high point - are you my Financial Adviser by any chance?!! ;o) I'd have thought that give the average numbers of 200, and that they've had 300+ a couple of times already, 533 at the only parkrun in Cork city at the start of OT shouldn't have been a major shock. The council's decision doesn't seem to be going down too well on the parkrun's facebook page...

robinph

Ahh, didn't know about the storms. Still a massive jump in numbers though and not surprising that the council is a bit scared of what will happen next.

BeenMadAgain

Maybe not so much the numbers as the reports of the congestion caused and people running across a busy 4-lane N road (from the facebook page). Seems like something that should be able to be sorted out - hope they can, if not by this Saturday, at least by next week.

Tigerandahalf

Looking at the Belmullet course it is pretty much a single circular loop. It looks like it is on a sand dune. It mentions a surface of tar, grass and sand.

It should be very scenic but perhaps a sea breeze.

That is 4 now in Mayo.

edisonolmy

Belmullet sounds challenging. i'm looking forward to it. 4 in Mayo indeed, just need Roscommon to start one. There had been talk of Lough Key but not heard anything in a while.

Amigaman

From the facebook page of Tramore Valley parkrun in Cork
"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have just been informed by Cork City Council they have withdrawn their permission to us to hold a parkrun this Saturday, because of the number of cars coming in last Saturday, more than the park's parking can handle unfortunately.
We are already in talks with them, looking how we can resolve this, but at the moment we have to cancel the event on the 30th.
Hope to see you all when we are back."

A friend of mine saw Council officials out on Sat. taking pictures of the cars and the parking and this is the result ...sad to see councils act in this way , hopefully TVp will resolve these issues...

robinph

That suggests that they were out to try and find a reason to complain before having had anyone complain.

hot buttered scones

Just a thought regarding the Tramore Valley parkrun, the current numbers would suggest that you could run 2 parkruns in and around Cork City. The week before you had around 330 at the parkrun and 400 at a 6k race the next day so there is a high demand there. Maybe a 2nd parkrun in say Ballincollig might take the pressure off a bit. Granted that's not going to do anything in the short term to solve the problem. People running across the dual carriageway is just daft though. This is the second time it's been cancelled by the council due to this parking issue. I've only made it to one myself and enjoyed it. It's part of Government policy though so don't forget to bring it up with the canvassers - there's an election coming up you know!

Amigaman

the population of Cork could easily support 2 or more parkruns - however I don't believe there is real support from the management of the city council for this or any other parkrun - they already pulled the Tramore Valley parkrun last oct to do a "risk assessment" that was after giving the go ahead and after 2 parkruns there ... they have poured literally millions into the conversion of the city dump into what they promoted as a "Super Park" capable of attracting and holding large outdoor concerts and they cant handle 500 people on a saturday morning when they have a huge park and ride carpark directly accross the road from the park but wont allow it to be used because it would mean them having to install a pedestrian crossing on the link road how can they be taken seriously when instead of even trying to sort the "problem " out with the TVp team they just flatly cancel it ... I despair for parkrun in Cork

hot buttered scones

Amigaman wrote:

the population of Cork could easily support 2 or more parkruns - however I don't believe there is real support from the management of the city council for this or any other parkrun - they already pulled the Tramore Valley parkrun last oct to do a "risk assessment" that was after giving the go ahead and after 2 parkruns there ... they have poured literally millions into the conversion of the city dump into what they promoted as a "Super Park" capable of attracting and holding large outdoor concerts and they cant handle 500 people on a saturday morning when they have a huge park and ride carpark directly accross the road from the park but wont allow it to be used because it would mean them having to install a pedestrian crossing on the link road how can they be taken seriously when instead of even trying to sort the "problem " out with the TVp team they just flatly cancel it ... I despair for parkrun in Cork

Let's just do laps of the City Hall in protest!!

edisonolmy

I really hope it gets sorted out for Cork, as I do with Little Stoke in England. The only parkruns to ever fold were Iceland, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Shame a new and popular event is fighting battles so early on.

youngrun

Big jump in numbers recently , across a lot of the parkruns is that down to the OT TV series ? Does parkrun popularity affect other races that clash ?

edisonolmy

parkrun isn't a race so shouldn't affect other events

ger664

youngrun wrote: »

Big jump in numbers recently , across a lot of the parkruns is that down to the OT TV series ? Does parkrun popularity affect other races that clash ?

We had 289 a new course record last week in Ennis. There is a 5K race starting from Lees Road tomorrow and their numbers are up on last year as well.

lanod2407

youngrun wrote: »

Big jump in numbers recently , across a lot of the parkruns is that down to the OT TV series ? Does parkrun popularity affect other races that clash ?

Here's my personal opinion:

Current increase in numbers - a lot of it will be OT, some January resolutions, and I think it'll drop off a lot in the coming weeks. Always does.
Impact on races - parkrun is only 5k, so it should not impact many races as they'll be different distances.
Because parkrun is essentially an organised 5k community run each week I so think that it will have 2 impacts - (1) may prompt races to offer good value to attract participants, and (2) may increase numbers at races as people try parkrun and 'catch the running bug'.

opus

We're in discussions with the city council about getting the Tramore Valley parkrun back running again but definitely cancelled for tomorrow

I had a look at the OT fun run that was held on the ground of Blarney Castle in February last year and it attracted ~3000 people so guessing that's one of the worries on the councils side. And indeed the masterplan for the park is that it will hold events of up to 5000 people but thing is it can't at the moment.

The local paper has a very Fr Tedesque article on it - Parkrun Cancelled As It's Too Popular

Dilbert75

dintbo wrote: »

+1 to Johnstown measuring a little short but it also suggests I run on water on each if the three laps. I'd reckon it's pretty bang on.

Me too. It's annoying because my 5k pb (by 5 secs) is there but my Garmin only measured something like 4.96k (according to the map I ran on water around the lake) so Garmin Connect doesn't recognise it as a pb. I know - it's a first world problem...

Gael23

The situation in Cork is unbelievable, how something like that could have arisen on such a huge site defies me.

Amigaman

There are 920 car parking spaces no more then 100 meters from the entrance to the park that belong to Cork City Council... and their answer is to close down the parkrun because it is too successful in providing a community amenity ....its hard to believe that such petty bureaucratic stupidity is alive and well and living in Cork City Council ...until the people of Cork make their voices heard ..nothing will happen , nothing would please the City Council more then for parkrun to simply vanish ... no parkrun no problem in their shortsighted way of thinking

BeenMadAgain

opus wrote: »

We're in discussions with the city council about getting the Tramore Valley parkrun back running again but definitely cancelled for tomorrow

I had a look at the OT fun run that was held on the ground of Blarney Castle in February last year and it attracted ~3000 people so guessing that's one of the worries on the councils side. And indeed the masterplan for the park is that it will hold events of up to 5000 people but thing is it can't at the moment.

The local paper has a very Fr Tedesque article on it - ...

How about:
1. Temporarily extending the on-site car park.
2. Limiting the on-site parking to people who are car sharing.
3. Having a temporary crossing from the park-and-ride across the link road with either temporary traffic lights, a lollipop person or a stop-go sign. A couple of crossings just before the run and a few after should do the trick without too much disruption. Could even start a bit later to allow for people who get turned away from the on-site car park.

BeenMadAgain

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Let's just do laps of the City Hall in protest!!

...or maybe a dozen laps in front of the City Hall across Parnell and Clontarf bridges - perhaps with t-shirts printed with something like "Nowhere to run / Shame on Cork" - but probably better to wait to see how the negotiations with the council go first...

curtisbrown

Sligo Parkrun is one today. 158 Runners were there for the celebration!

ClashCityRocker

I ran in the first event at Bois de Boulogne in Paris this weekend. Lovely event and setting, hopefully will be embraced by the local population. A large number of participants seemed to be from the UK but i'm sure it will grow in Paris via word of mouth - there were absolutely loads of people out running while i was there so no doubt there should be potential for large attendances.

robinph

Our little parkrun made it onto the ITV Westcountry news this weekend. I managed to avoid the camera, and also they edited out the bit during the piece to camera by the run director where I was running a warmup lap behind her and trying not to fall over in the mud at the same time:

https://www.facebook.com/littlestokeparkrun/videos/757379924395813/

edisonolmy

Shame about Little Stoke. I saw someone on another messageboard saying the park is quite small so they can understand why the parish council is concerned.

BeenMadAgain

...according to their Facebook page.

That'll be three parkruns in Co. Donegal, up from zero just a month ago!

Falcarragh started Jan 9th,
Letterkenny starts Feb 6th,
Dungloe starts March 5th.

Don't think they'll keep that rate of startups going for the rest of the year though! :P

edisonolmy

They might, Donegal is a big county and they love their 5Ks up there - Grand Prix series is hugely popular.

Sunny Dayz

edisonolmy wrote: »

They might, Donegal is a big county and they love their 5Ks up there - Grand Prix series is hugely popular.

Running in Donegal (in my limited running experience) is so different! There's hills everywhere!! All shapes and sizes. No such thing as a flat course! Makes me realise how spoiled I am in the midlands and how bad I am with hills. Visiting the inlaws this month so will give Letterkenny parkrun a go.

lanod2407

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Running in Donegal (in my limited running experience) is so different! There's hills everywhere!! All shapes and sizes. No such thing as a flat course! Makes me realise how spoiled I am in the midlands and how bad I am with hills. Visiting the inlaws this month so will give Letterkenny parkrun a go.

Hills make you faster!!

edisonolmy

There are still some seriously quick 5K courses that make up the Grand Prix series - Burtonport for example.

Good to see nearly every county has at least one parkrun now - over to you Carlow, Wicklow, Roscommon, Leitrim, Offaly, Tipp, and others I can;t recall off the top of my head

edisonolmy

There are still some seriously quick 5K courses that make up the Grand Prix series - Burtonport for example.

Good to see nearly every county has at least one parkrun now - over to you Carlow, Wicklow, Roscommon, Leitrim, Offaly, Tipp, and others I can;t recall off the top of my head

Amigaman

ClashCityRocker wrote: »

I ran in the first event at Bois de Boulogne in Paris this weekend. Lovely event and setting, hopefully will be embraced by the local population. A large number of participants seemed to be from the UK but i'm sure it will grow in Paris via word of mouth - there were absolutely loads of people out running while i was there so no doubt there should be potential for large attendances.

ClashCityRocker - see if you can spot yourself here... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojvS7o7RsbQ
I feel a weekend to Paris coming over the summer :-)

ClashCityRocker

Amigaman wrote: »

ClashCityRocker - see if you can spot yourself here... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojvS7o7RsbQ
I feel a weekend to Paris coming over the summer :-)

That's me coming in to finish at around 1:19!

edisonolmy

You'd go to Paris before coming north?