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13 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Say "Thank You, Prime Minister" Go on, it won't hurt you. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39604630

As Mr Park run said: However, it's just as important that local authorities receive the support required to ensure these wonderful areas of open space are available for future generations.

It's a nice idea but with slashes to council budgets keeping parks in any kind of decent condition is already dropping down the list of priorities.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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Just now, JohnM said:

Well, pay up then. Or run on Hastings sea front like thousands of others, or elect a council and government that will increase taxes and borrowing.   Good luck with that!  :):):)

What a strange comment. The Park Run in Hastings is on the seafront (as I'm sure you know) and they adjourn to the Bo Peep afterwards.  I haven't been down there when it's on but the seafront paths are genuinely in dire need of work at the St Leonards end but no-one (ESCC, HBC) seems to have the funds to do it - although the bits around the Pier of the Year are lovely (even if all the markings have not been put back on).  The NCN route to Bexhill has had an officially failed surface for the whole time I've lived here so that's a quarter of a million of public money wasted.

We already have a government that's increasing borrowing.  They have to because they've made it illegal for themselves to raise taxes.  Smart move that.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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On 15/04/2017 at 11:56 PM, henage said:

Few numbers from todays UK parkruns .

440 parkruns in the UK Today .

Bushey Park (London?) had 1414 runners/walkers complete the run . (highest number of runners)

Wormwood scrubs had 49 runners/walkers .

Millom had 32 runners/walkers .

East Park (Hull) had around 560 , me included . Great numbers .

Beat the previous total attendance record on Saturday by more than 10k.

Our parkrun in Cambridge is in a park owned by a charity. The council decided it couldn't afford to run a large park, 10+ years ago and sold it to the charity (for £1 I think.) More than half of the park's income now comes via parkrun, which has funded new paths, currently building a new cafe extension. The next two closest parkruns to me are on National Trust properties, again I assume the NT is making money on car park fees & cafe profits.

Local councils aren't obliged to allow events in a park and in any case most of them are trying to set up parkruns, not close them down. It's a nice gesture from the government, but it's more preventing a future possible problem than anything else.

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Who pays for open spaces/parks needs to be in another thread . Its a very important subject.

Gets me up and out the door most Saturdays .

Now that the better weather is here !!! Im biking to the park , that puts another 20k onto the 5k run .

Great numbers , it will only get bigger .

 

 

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Millom had 32 runners/walkers .

Millom is gaining notoriety among tourist parkrunners as one of the hardest to run - it's very wet/muddy and so far has never been done under 20 minutes and most runners are 5 minutes over their usual time. It may ease in summer though, although I'm not sure Cumbria has summer.

Rother Valley (whose core management team I am on) is managed by Rotherham Council who helped set it up. We pay £1 to park rather than the usual £5 and numbers have swelled from 50 in 2013 to almost 300 on a weekly basis now.

The cafe manager loves telling us how much he takes on a Saturday morning now compared to before parkrun - and that's every week, winter or summer.

I think the trick the government will need to pull off in this legislation is how to define who gets to be charged and who doesn't. If a PT uses the park to take one paying person or a group to run/exercise in a public park should they be charged as they are profiting? Professional dog walkers? If I'm a not-for-profit sports club (which an RL club can be) and I don't hire the changing rooms can I use a council pitch for free?

 

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"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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Some good points .

Open spaces are at a premium , areas that can take a 5k run over one or two laps are a little thin on the ground .

East park managed to access a lottery grant more than a few years ago now (millions) this gave the park a massive boost , sadly little by little its starting to look a little bit unkept around the edges .

Council have just pulled the plug on a go-tri run/cycle event that took place once a month , bikes(not mine) going faster than the parks speed limit ! Comes down to pressure to many people using the park , could have been worked around but council not interested .

Millom sounds interesting , did a parkrun in Cornwall a  while back , one big hill , plus lots of smaller ones , found it very difficult .

 

 

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4 minutes ago, henage said:

Millom sounds interesting

Five laps of a school field doesn't sound like the most exciting course to me :-) Trail shoes make a surprising difference on mud, I find.

Up that way in a couple of weeks, might do Fell Foot parkrun at Newby Bridge, which is described as "undulating."

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4 minutes ago, JonM said:

Five laps of a school field doesn't sound like the most exciting course to me :-) Trail shoes make a surprising difference on mud, I find.

Up that way in a couple of weeks, might do Fell Foot parkrun at Newby Bridge, which is described as "undulating."

Millom is more "cross country spikes" than trail shoes apparently. A couple of quicker runners allegedly discarded their shoes altogether and ran it barefoot.

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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Park foot is my home Park Run and now it will just about OK in trail shoes. The majority is on grass 

Lancaster is a harder run and is a good but challenging course with a couple of short steep hills. I'm about 20 seconds slower at Lancaster than Fell Foot 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did my first one of these this morning, down the road from me in Peckham. Lovely course, nice weather and I got round quite a bit quicker than I expected given I have never really done any running before. About 180 folk in all.

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I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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  • 5 months later...

Belter of a morning in East Hull this Saturday .

Over 500 people turned out for the East Park Hull -  Park run .

Great friendly atmosphere , some fast runners leading the way , mainly average runners/joggers/walkers completing the two laps .

 

 

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We're now near or over 300 most weeks at Rother Valley. I'm now up to 157 runs total at 41 venues.

 

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"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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I've done a dozen of these this year and to wrap up the warmer months am doing a 10k this morning to see how I get on.

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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I am very unfit and hate running, although I am decent at things like squash and badminton. Ill be giving ParkRun a go over the next few weeks as I have signed up for a 5k in Edinburgh in Jan. 

I know its not far, but for me thatll be a great effort!

Looking forward to samplibg Park Run as only ever heard good things.

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2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I am very unfit and hate running, although I am decent at things like squash and badminton. Ill be giving ParkRun a go over the next few weeks as I have signed up for a 5k in Edinburgh in Jan. 

I know its not far, but for me thatll be a great effort!

Looking forward to samplibg Park Run as only ever heard good things.

Well let me interject then...

I'm only joking. I enjoy park run but find it hard to judge my speed because of the other runners and end up in a semi sprint to the first corner. 

I run wearing an armband to judge my speed and the first kilometre in my first parkrun is still one of my fastest ever.

I paid for it in the remaining 4 kilometres.

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Just now, Maximus Decimus said:

Well let me interject then...

I'm only joking. I enjoy park run but find it hard to judge my speed because of the other runners and end up in a semi sprint to the first corner. 

I run wearing an armband to judge my speed and the first kilometre in my first parkrun is still one of my fastest ever.

I paid for it in the remaining 4 kilometres.

That is my concern, i am just using a treadmill at the moment and I dont want to embarrass myself through poor pacing.

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Did the Hastings Parkrun with Younger Ginger a few weeks ago.  Obviously as we're in Shoreditch on Sea, it's way cooler than any of the runs you guys will have endured.  I pity you.  I think they get between 100 and 250 depending on the weather.  Very friendly and was impressed by the whole set-up, although one of their barcode machines was faulty which meant that despite me and Younger Ginger crossing the line together (he one step ahead so he could win) our times were 10 seconds different.

Life has got in the way of going back but hope to do so over the winter.

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Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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4 hours ago, Dave T said:

That is my concern, i am just using a treadmill at the moment and I dont want to embarrass myself through poor pacing.

I was already aware of this difficulty from running the odd 10k but I found it more acute at parkrun because there are a number of the 1-200 racing. I'm no racer but I think subconscious pride kicks in on my part.

There's no real embarrassment as there are plenty of walkers etc. It's a real positive event.

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7 hours ago, Dave T said:

That is my concern, i am just using a treadmill at the moment and I dont want to embarrass myself through poor pacing.

Try starting at the back , steady away get breathing sorted , relax away you go .

Get your time , next time remember how you felt at the start , middle , end and adjust your pace .

East Park have pacers running with hi viz jackets on with a finish time on them  , usually 24mins (think this is a good pace if your Mr /miss average)25mins , 30 mins etc , seems to work really well .

Need the volunteer's who can pace , which might be a problem  

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7 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Did the Hastings Parkrun with Younger Ginger a few weeks ago.  Obviously as we're in Shoreditch on Sea, it's way cooler than any of the runs you guys will have endured.  I pity you.  I think they get between 100 and 250 depending on the weather.  Very friendly and was impressed by the whole set-up, although one of their barcode machines was faulty which meant that despite me and Younger Ginger crossing the line together (he one step ahead so he could win) our times were 10 seconds different.

Life has got in the way of going back but hope to do so over the winter.

That will have nowt to do with the barcode machine. It is because a few annoying people always do the run but refuse to take a token, meaning they have been beeped in on the stopwatch but ensured the tokens are not allocated in the right order.

Dave T, I had the same worry as you and the solution was indeed to go pretty gently on the first run and see how it went and where I stood against the other runners. The advantage of that approach, besides not killing yourself, it is quite satisfying to wipe a minute off your best pb from one week to the next.

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I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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  • 6 months later...

Anyone doing parkrun Saturday ?

Numbers are growing at East Park (Hull) 500 up to 600 taking park most Saturdays now .

Plus Peter Pan Parkrun (West Hull) Humber Bridge Country Park , Parkrun (East Riding)  great for the area.

1000+ miles for me , never thought i would every do that kind of mileage .

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I'm struggling with fitness and health but have struggled on with parkrun - now done 184 and recently attended my 50th different venue at Bushy Park in London, where the original parkrun took place in 2004. There were 1209 runners. Tomorrow I'm at Rother Valley for our 5th birthday.

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"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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