Parkrun..

The Black Oil

Malahide seems to have an issue with people not giving the plastic tokens back. Do people either not get scanned and go home, or get scanned and not give them back to the volunteers? Presume this happens at other locations.

edisonolmy

Some people think they are souvenirs - some people simply don't listen at the start - some simply forget and pocket them

ger664

The Black Oil wrote: »

Malahide seems to have an issue with people not giving the plastic tokens back. Do people either not get scanned and go home, or get scanned and not give them back to the volunteers? Presume this happens at other locations.

The increase in new participants caused us an issue. Those that are not registered seem to walk away with them. We stuck a volunteer on the track away from the finish last week asking people as they left had they handed them back. worked only one not returned.

BeepBeep67

edisonolmy wrote: »

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

Shanganagh is effectively a Wicklow parkrun with the RD and crew made up mainly from local Wicklow running clubs. And you can spit across the border on a windy Saturday morning

chinguetti

Father Collins parkrun in Clongriffin is getting a visit from RTE this Saturday morning as they're sending the cameras to do a piece for Operation Transformation.

Everyone is welcome along so come one, come all. And don't forget your barcode:D

Darkglasses

The Black Oil wrote: »

Malahide seems to have an issue with people not giving the plastic tokens back. Do people either not get scanned and go home, or get scanned and not give them back to the volunteers? Presume this happens at other locations.

Think some people think they are souvenirs that you take home. Heard a story of someone who made a necklace out of them!

Firedance

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Shanganagh is effectively a Wicklow parkrun with the RD and crew made up mainly from local Wicklow running clubs. And you can spit across the border on a windy Saturday morning

ha! nevertheless until they move Shankill to Co. Wicklow it remains a Dublin parkrun (p.s. spitting is not nice )

lanod2407

edisonolmy wrote: »

Some people think they are souvenirs - some people simply don't listen at the start - some simply forget and pocket them

Makes the case for a longer taped area at the finish stronger, especially at this time of the year with so many newbies?? That'd route finishers through to the scanners more effectively?

Coffee Fulled Runner

The Black Oil wrote: »

Malahide seems to have an issue with people not giving the plastic tokens back. Do people either not get scanned and go home, or get scanned and not give them back to the volunteers? Presume this happens at other locations.

Think I seen on Facebook hat Sligo had the same problem. I guess something like that will always happen when you get a large influx of newbies.

edisonolmy

It only becomes an issue if the same number disappears on numerous occasions. We get loads of blank tokens and have replacement barcodes for each number, but they aren't as good as the originals. I think it was number 98 that St Anne's kept replacing and losing so they now have an A4 sized 98 token.

We had a discussion a couple of weeks back with a kid who wanted to keep one token and was reluctant to give it back. Seriously.

Killerz

edisonolmy wrote: »

It only becomes an issue if the same number disappears on numerous occasions. We get loads of blank tokens and have replacement barcodes for each number, but they aren't as good as the originals. I think it was number 98 that St Anne's kept replacing and losing so they now have an A4 sized 98 token.

We had a discussion a couple of weeks back with a kid who wanted to keep one token and was reluctant to give it back. Seriously.

The Legend of Token 98. We make a weekly ceremony of our 98th finisher!

Darkglasses

Maybe I'm thick, but what is the reason why the same number would go missing? Just coincidence or does someone aim to finish the same position every week?

Killerz

Darkglasses wrote: »

Maybe I'm thick, but what is the reason why the same number would go missing? Just coincidence or does someone aim to finish the same position every week?

I hope it was coincidence in our case. Otherwise someone was playing tricks

The Black Oil

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.

Out of interest, if you do an international one, is your existing barcode transferable or do you've to register again?

Skid X

The Black Oil wrote: »

Out of interest, if you do an international one, is your existing barcode transferable or do you've to register again?

Same barcode works worldwide. You can roll up anywhere and join in.

robinph

The Black Oil wrote: »

Out of interest, if you do an international one, is your existing barcode transferable or do you've to register again?

Register once. Run free anywhere.

L.Jenkins

3rd run this morning and my 2nd PB. I find it's something to look forward to each week.

JosDel

Great to be back running again 8 months after a Hip Replacement, done my 2nd Parkrun in St Anne's today, my 21 minute days are far behind me, just happy to get around in a respectable time of 27.05.

Thanks to all the volunteers.

CassieManson

Itzy wrote:

3rd run this morning and my 2nd PB. I find it's something to look forward to each week.

Yes it's a bit addictive alright. I couldn't go this morning and my smartphone was a bit confused, kept prompting with directions to Marlay Park!

L.Jenkins

It is indeed Cassie. I've trained many years ago and ran a marathon, but having become lazy after an injury, I'm finding it difficult with pain in my lower calves and shins.

ArmaniJeanss

Just a thought, but would it be an idea to encourage each local parkrun to put up a 'course video' on the page where their 'course map' is? Because of the courses being parks it means google maps usually don't have any ground level mapping as their van couldn't gain access.

Would be nice to see some of the other courses we'd be planning to run (even nice to see them if not planning to run them!).

I know some already have this if you hunt it down, but maybe nice to formalise it to a specific page of each parkruns web page?

L.Jenkins

What ever about mapping it, I wouldn't know what could be used to do so without looking into it, someone could run or walk each course with a go pro strapped on. Just another thought.

edisonolmy

We have a course video for Stormont on our Facebook page.

I ran Letterkenny at the weekend, they had to change the course at the last minute. Laps of the St Conal's Hospital grounds and the town park - the park bit is quite nice, but I found the hospital bit a challenge - loads of potholes.

A good crowd though, a lot of walkers taking part as well. No dogs though because they're not allowed in the town park.

The highlight was getting a bottle of Football Special on the way home.

fletch

Or attach a camera to a buggy as a runner in Hartstown did...check out the video here

lanod2407

How accurate are Parkrun courses, and is there a standard method of measurement that should be used?

Limerick has had 3 runs since it started last month, and each run has had the course changed due to issues with the distance. Surely there's a requirement to adopt a standardised / recognised measurement protocol and use that to measure the course before a new event kicks off?

chinguetti

Can't speak for all park runs but I was told that Fr Collins in Clongriffin was measured by Jones counter before I moved out to that part of the world. I'm involved in it now by the way.

One week we had to change the route due to ice and we measured it off two garmins and a bike computer the day before and that morning again and it came to 3.12 miles.

Limerick has had major problems with flooding from what I read so that may account for all the changed courses.

Sunny Dayz

I think they use one of those roll wheels that has a handle - no idea what it's actually called!! I remember we used to have one in national school that clicked after every wheel turn. I've heard that the trees and bushes at some Parkruns can throw out the garmin/gps. My own strava records me at 4.9km on my local parkrun but it has been measured on ground to 5km, I must be cutting corners on my run!

edisonolmy

Never rely on Garmin to be right. You can measure as close to 5K with a wheel but runners still might run it `long' or `short' depending on the line they take. At my home run, I never measure it 5K exactly because there is a lot of tree cover.

Also, these are fun runs organised by volunteers, not chip-timed, paid for events where you would expect the distance to be bang-on 5K. As long as they are close enough to 5K, that's good enough for me.

edisonolmy

Never rely on Garmin to be right. You can measure as close to 5K with a wheel but runners still might run it `long' or `short' depending on the line they take. At my home run, I never measure it 5K exactly because there is a lot of tree cover.

Also, these are fun runs organised by volunteers, not chip-timed, paid for events where you would expect the distance to be bang-on 5K. As long as they are close enough to 5K, that's good enough for me.

cjt156

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

I think they use one of those roll wheels that has a handle - no idea what it's actually called!! I remember we used to have one in national school that clicked after every wheel turn.

A Trundle Wheel!

I think we all remember measuring the schoolyard with one before anyone had heard of Garmin; these whippersnappers with their snapbooks and facechats...<trundles off muttering>