The independent investigations have not identified any other areas of concern. Nick Pearson has repaid the funds in full to parkrun. He has also committed to covering the costs of the investigation.
I found it interesting on the press release from parkrun HQ that it doesn't say anything about Pearson apologising for his misendeavour. You'd have thought after being CEO for 7 years that he would at least offer an apology for the press release.
I'd say legal teams are involved and that he's been advised to shush in by his representatives.
I agree with you. I find that of my experience of parkruns in Ireland, most people aren't interested in the politics or intricacies behind the scenes of parkrun - to most it's a free 5km event every week, local, community, fitness etc. A lot of people won't know who Pearson is or what the press release was about.
He posted an apology on his Twitter account, but his account is protected so only followers can see it, I think.
I never saw the point of Contra either, though I didn't see this coming.
Part of the motivation for Contra was also about having running gear for people who don't look like runners.
It seemed like a massive waste of the brand of parkrun to not have just stuck that name on the clothing instead... But that would impact their charity status so needed the seperate entity.
I'm sure Pearson was brought in specifically for his experience with Sweatshop and so being able to deal with suppliers and manufacturers for them. Not sure he did anything majorly different from normal in the running of a commercial entity, it's just he didn't know that as a charity he couldn't do that stuff. Doesn't sound like the sums involved are anything massive or that it was even cash, could have been a corporate golf trip day.
"We discovered that our previous Chief Executive Officer Nick Pearson had an undisclosed and unapproved agreement by which he was receiving a commission from a third party supplier in regard to the creation of the clothing brand CONTRA in 2018. At no point was this conflict of interest disclosed to the Trustees or anyone else involved in parkrun."
https://www.parkrun.com/blog/news/2022/06/23/trust-tested-at-parkrun/
"Receiving commission from a third party supplier" ain't no "Corporate Golf trip day"
I had the fun of spending the night in Heathrow last Fri after a delayed flight meant I missed a connection. As there was lots of time to kill 'til Sat afternoon I tracked down the closest parkrun to the airport and headed there to walk around as I had no running gear available. In case anyone is stuck in the same situation, Bedfont Lakes is the event name & you just take the tube one stop to Hatton Cross & then walk (~3k) or take a bus from there.
Is it back this weekend? They seem to have a volunteer roster for 16 July
Must be. parkrun tend to keep launches of new parkruns pretty low key to avoid swamping new volunteer teams. Presumably they would take the same approach with a re-launch.
This should answer the question 😊
https://www.corkathletics.org/news/2597-tramore-valley-parkrun-resumes-saturday-july-16th.html
And a mere ~6.5 years after event #15, we had #16 today!
https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2022/07/review-of-tramore-valley-park-5k.html
Please be advised we have had to cancel Lees Road parkrun in Ennis this week
Anyone know what's happening with the Free Weekly Timed podcast? Seems to be on a summer break but I can't recall them taking a break this long.
I'm sure everyone knows this already, but yesterday I discovered an app called Garmin Connect IQ which allows you to download different watch faces for your Garmin watch (in my case Forerunner 45).
There's one that displays your Parkrun barcode (& emergency contact details).
I haven't tried to scan it yet, hopefully will on Sat., but it seems cool & handy enough.
Works fine on my Garmin. Never had a problem scanning off it.
Garmin watches scan fine for my experience with them.
Yeah have had no issue with
Have also used
Keep the rest of the families barcodes on that one
Did Lees road today, was totally fine with buggy.
Not a Buggy PB course but very doable. Lovely event, and sheltered from weather a fair bit.
Had great fun, only noticed after I could have been getting free charge for me EV too!
Will be in London next weekend and staying in the South Kensington area and looking at my parkrun options. Was thinking of Bushy Park as have never been but not sure how difficult it is to get out there. Anyone with any experiences to share?
It's easy enough. Think we've got the overground train to Teddington from Waterloo previously, then you have a bit of a hike through the park to get to the start. Check the times on the https://tfl.gov.uk/ site though and it will give you a bunch of alternative route options using trains, underground and busses.
Take a look at Google maps and that will give lots of possible methods of transport. Don't forget it starts at 09:00am. I did it recently but was staying in Kingston so was able to walk to the start area. It's a very nice parkrun!
Did Macroom at the weekend, friendly people.
Heading to the Lake District in the Autumn and have my eye on Fell Foot and Keswick.
Have done Keswick a few times. The course is much improved since it got washed away in one of the storms several years ago and then was temporarily going round a carpark I think. Smooth tarmac cycle path out and back now.
Not done Fell Foot yet but think they have a couple of courses depending on the season.
Winlatter is also an option, if you like hills. Have walked the course looking for Gruffalos on a different day of the week. Lovely forest trails, but big hill.
Has anyone done a parkrun in Wales? I am around Harlech next week. The closest one seems to be Dolgellau. Is that worth doing or is there a nicer one that might justify the extra travel time? I would be happy to spend half a day wherever it is.
All the Welsh ones I've done are down south along the M4, or actually on the M49.
Ended up doing Penrhyn parkrun. Beautiful castle there and overlooks the coast so from a tourist perspective it ticks all the boxes. The run itself was pretty much a 4 lap course so lots of lapping etc. Also very hilly.
And the heat..................
Did Portumna on Saturday, beautiful parkrun and nice volunteers
I did make the trek out to Bushy a few weeks back in London and was glad to have made the journey. I finished in 356th place out of 1384 runners. A friend said that to me that the start is like the grand national and very much the case. For anyone looking to make the journey, what worked well for us was the district line out as far as Wimbledon and then changed over to the overground to Hampton Court and it's about a 10 minute walk to the start area from there. Had a nice breakfast in a cafe the village of Hampton Court afterwards.
Which Limerick parkrun is the nicest? Mungret or UL? Or would it be worthwhile going the extra distance to Illaunmanagh in Clare instead?
Mungret isn't particularly great. It's three or four laps of a smallish park with a big hill in one corner. You can see the whole course from everywhere on the course so can be a little boring. Easy to get to though. I never did UL or the one in Clare I'm afraid.
