Parkrun Ireland

slingerz

Is there enough Parkrun's yet? The rest of the country must be screaming out for some!

robinph

slingerz wrote: »

Is there enough Parkrun's yet?

Nope.

slingerz wrote: »

The rest of the country must be screaming out for some!

That is the tricky bit though, until an area has a parkrun then they don't really know it exists. The guy who was mostly responsible for setting up one of my nearest ones, and a junior one that is now in the works as well, recently moved off to another part of the UK and has to start from scratch with building awareness of what it's all about with the local councils etc. Now the local running community may be aware to some extent of what it is, but as with most people the world over they will just be expecting someone else to come along and get things going for them.

The growth of parkrun in Ireland has been fantastic and really fast with the numbers of people turning out to the various events. The numbers of people turning up for the Dublin events each week there is certainly the desire for more, if only to try and relive the pressure on the existing event teams with the numbers they are dealing with.

slingerz

robinph wrote: »

Nope.


That is the tricky bit though, until an area has a parkrun then they don't really know it exists. The guy who was mostly responsible for setting up one of my nearest ones, and a junior one that is now in the works as well, recently moved off to another part of the UK and has to start from scratch with building awareness of what it's all about with the local councils etc. Now the local running community may be aware to some extent of what it is, but as with most people the world over they will just be expecting someone else to come along and get things going for them.

The growth of parkrun in Ireland has been fantastic and really fast with the numbers of people turning out to the various events. The numbers of people turning up for the Dublin events each week there is certainly the desire for more, if only to try and relive the pressure on the existing event teams with the numbers they are dealing with.

Meant to say where there enough Dublin Parkrun's yet and that the erst of the country could do with more coming on board. Only 2 in Munster alone.

crisco10

slingerz wrote: »

Meant to say where there enough Dublin Parkrun's yet and that the erst of the country could do with more coming on board. Only 2 in Munster alone.

It really exploded in Dublin. Marlay only just celebrated its 1st anniversary, and speaking from memory, it was only the second in Dublin after Malahide?

menoscemo

slingerz wrote: »

Meant to say where there enough Dublin Parkrun's yet and that the erst of the country could do with more coming on board. Only 2 in Munster alone.

There aren't enough in Dublin yet as e.g. marlay regularly has over 600 runners which is almost too much. Tymon was set up by some of the Marlay regulars to relieve the pressure on Marlay.

It's not that Parkrun HQ looks at the map and decides where a parkrun should be set up. It's up to volunteers from wherever in the country to decide to set one up for themselves and then contact parkrun for help in doing so.

robinph

The way it has gone in Ireland then the rest of the country could do with some, but Dublin could definitely handle more of them with the way the numbers have exploded in such a short time.

Kind of dissapointed that I didn't go and run Bushy over VMLM weekend as it would have been interesting to see 1000+ runners at a parkrun, but it's a bit scary with the numbers at my local when they have much over 200 due to another local one being cancelled. Some parks can handle huge numbers, some can't did another one last year and was only about 50'ish at it maybe, but much more than that would have been too busy for their route and location.

slingerz

crisco10 wrote: »

It really exploded in Dublin. Marlay only just celebrated its 1st anniversary, and speaking from memory, it was only the second in Dublin after Malahide?

Dublin does have the population base for a large number of them for sure I am saying that its just disappointing that it hasnt spread to other areas around the country yet

menoscemo wrote: »

There aren't enough in Dublin yet as e.g. marlay regularly has over 600 runners which is almost too much. Tymon was set up by some of the Marlay regulars to relieve the pressure on Marlay.

It's not that Parkrun HQ looks at the map and decides where a parkrun should be set up. It's up to volunteers from wherever in the country to decide to set one up for themselves and then contact parkrun for help in doing so.

I'm well aware how a parkrun gets setup what im saying above is that it is disappointing that we dont have more of them around the country. I'm sure a weekend away in Killarney, Ennis etc. would be a little more attractive to regular parkrunners if they're was a parkrun in that town

robinph wrote: »

The way it has gone in Ireland then the rest of the country could do with some, but Dublin could definitely handle more of them with the way the numbers have exploded in such a short time.

Kind of dissapointed that I didn't go and run Bushy over VMLM weekend as it would have been interesting to see 1000+ runners at a parkrun, but it's a bit scary with the numbers at my local when they have much over 200 due to another local one being cancelled. Some parks can handle huge numbers, some can't did another one last year and was only about 50'ish at it maybe, but much more than that would have been too busy for their route and location.

I think that is more of a comment on the local authorites than anything else, we dont seem to have a consistent park structure throughout our regional towns. For example in Cork, both Ballincollig and Carrigaline are large suburban areas without a park appropriate for hosting such an event. Ballincollig has a park alright but it is very suspectible to flooding so i'm imagine they would lose a number of weeks to flooding every year and that would be before you would factor in weeks lost due to ice etc.

robinph

slingerz wrote: »

I think that is more of a comment on the local authorites than anything else, we dont seem to have a consistent park structure throughout our regional towns. For example in Cork, both Ballincollig and Carrigaline are large suburban areas without a park appropriate for hosting such an event. Ballincollig has a park alright but it is very suspectible to flooding so i'm imagine they would lose a number of weeks to flooding every year and that would be before you would factor in weeks lost due to ice etc.

Before the local one to me setup I had heard rumors about a new one starting up somewhere, but couldn't figure out where they were going to put it as nothing seemed suitable from what I knew of the area. But there is a wide variety of types of parkrun, and the "park" bit is not even essential, only the run bit as I'm sure I've heard talk on the parkrun show of some event that is actually along a beach or something.

Anyway, a quick glance at the map and there seems to be a bunch of trails marked out here, or here, although I don't know the area or what that might actually be like etc. There is no fixed format for a parkrun, just that the local community wants one.

slingerz

robinph wrote: »

Before the local one to me setup I had heard rumors about a new one starting up somewhere, but couldn't figure out where they were going to put it as nothing seemed suitable from what I knew of the area. But there is a wide variety of types of parkrun, and the "park" bit is not even essential, only the run bit as I'm sure I've heard talk on the parkrun show of some event that is actually along a beach or something.

Anyway, a quick glance at the map and there seems to be a bunch of trails marked out here, or here, although I don't know the area or what that might actually be like etc. There is no fixed format for a parkrun, just that the local community wants one.

I was only really using them as examples but even places like Killarney/Tralee could do with having one. It would nice to be able to be a parkrun tourist in ireland without having to go almost predomantly to dublin

robinph

slingerz wrote: »

I was only really using them as examples but even places like Killarney/Tralee could do with having one. It would nice to be able to be a parkrun tourist in ireland without having to go almost predomantly to dublin

It does sound daft before you get stuck into the idea of parkrun, but I have done a few trips around the UK now where I've found myself checking the parkrun events page map just as much as looking on other sites for finding hotels or campsites and then how to get to interesting ones...and if there is a choice of a couple of different parkruns then which one I might stand a better chance of claiming a first finisher spot at.

Krusty_Clown

slingerz wrote: »

I was only really using them as examples but even places like Killarney/Tralee could do with having one. It would nice to be able to be a parkrun tourist in ireland without having to go almost predomantly to dublin

The problem is, it's not a case of locating them 'where they are needed', but rather 'where there are volunteers willing to set one up and maintain it'. There is no logic to where the next one will be, only a determined set of people willing to step up to the plate. I'd love to have one in my local park (which would be an ideal setting), but I know that for that to happen, I'll have to get off my ar$e and do something about it.

snailsong

[QUOTE=slingerz;90570058



I'm well aware how a parkrun gets setup what im saying above is that it is disappointing that we dont have more of them around the country. I'm sure a weekend away in Killarney, Ennis etc. would be a little more attractive to regular parkrunners if they're was a parkrun in that town

.[/QUOTE]

Any and all parkrun tourists are very welcome in Westport. We have a lovely friendly parkrun community, numbers varying from 40 to 100. You might be able to win with 19:30 but Ultrapercy holds the record at 16:00. We also have U14 girls who can run sub 20!

This weekend I'm the run director so it'll be even better than ever:).

slingerz

snailsong wrote: »

Any and all parkrun tourists are very welcome in Westport. We have a lovely friendly parkrun community, numbers varying from 40 to 100. You might be able to win with 19:30 but Ultrapercy holds the record at 16:00. We also have U14 girls who can run sub 20!

This weekend I'm the run director so it'll be even better than ever:).

One of the selling points of the parkruns in Westport, Macroom, Clonakilty etc.

Thats great running from those U14 girls you may be nuturing the stars of the future right there!

I have found the smaller parkruns that i have done in Clonakilty and Macroom to have a real community spirit especially among the regulars and its a great thing to have in the smaller more regional towns

Best of luck with being run director this weekend. I'm a volunteer timekeeper at one this Saturday myself!

robinph

Sorry for the temporary intermission whilst I tidied up the thread.

Now back to talking about parkrun please.

opus

Amigaman wrote: »

As Always if you want to help or register interest in an area that currently does not have a parkrun or indeed if you wish to start a parkrun in your locale the person to talk to is Matt Shields parkrun coordinator for Ireland ( matt@parkrun.com )mail him hes a great guy :-)

I did just that to gauge what the interest was in Cork city for one. Two others had been in touch with asking the same thing. If anyone is interested fire me a PM with your email address & I'll add you to the list.

Only thing is I'm off on holidays on Sat so won't be checking email too often 'til I get back towards the end of July.

Amigaman

Good luck with getting a parkrun in Cork City off the ground - Seeing as there are 2 already up and running in Cork County , I hope you find the kernal of support needed to make an event a success , and a success I'm sure it will be ,to quote Kevin Costner " If you build it they will come " :-) and kudos on the months hols ...sweet :-)

slingerz

opus wrote: »

I did just that to gauge what the interest was in Cork city for one. Two others had been in touch with asking the same thing. If anyone is interested fire me a PM with your email address & I'll add you to the list.

Only thing is I'm off on holidays on Sat so won't be checking email too often 'til I get back towards the end of July.

Would be great to have another parkrun in Cork!:)