DFW running club part 4!! ALL ARE WELCOME!!

beer_tins

becky_rtw wrote: »

Here we go:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/UKgovernment/Honoursawardsandmedals/DG_067917

If enough of us do it then surely next year

I think Parkrun should support a campaign...just digging out the xmas list of runs for you BT

Edit: http://www.parkrun.com/crispy.aspx there you go

Thank you! Bromley on the 2nd for me, I think.

RichOneday_2

I'm not sure about this one tbh.

Various thoughts:

1. On the one hand, I cant see Paul letting control of the basic principles of parkrun get diluted just to get a few new laptops.

2. London Marathon arent a 'normal sponsor' by any stretch of the imagination. They dont have a product to sell as such. They are in it for something. As someone far cleverer than me has already worked out......the temptation is there to 'sell' a parkrun day to a charity for a few £'000 and effectively turn it into a 'Run For Life' only with free entry.

There are already (25 x 54) 1350 'parkrun days', due to rise to 2430 next year. Imagine how flogging days to charities at £5k a pop could snowball and how it ticks all the right boxes so to speak. That is the nightmare scenario which would turn away pretty much all the current parkrunners and destroy what now exists.

3. If the London Marathon are actually interested in the long term health and fitness of the country then it is just possible that they may see parkruns as a starting point to adopt a New York style approach, whereby before even being able to apply for a marathon place you have to have completed, say, 25 parkruns. This would show that the applicant had demonstrated a reasonable level of fitness over a period of time. Of course this would then have to be extended to show some sort of experience over 10ks and 1/2 marathons too, but it would be a start.

This would be a positive outcome from such a joint venture and might start to take some of the heavy load off the poor St Johns people on LM day.


It remains to be seen how it pans out but I do have to say that my cynical head smells a stinky little rodent.:p

becky_rtw

RichOneday wrote: »

2. London Marathon arent a 'normal sponsor' by any stretch of the imagination. They dont have a product to sell as such. They are in it for something. As someone far cleverer than me has already worked out......the temptation is there to 'sell' a parkrun day to a charity for a few £'000 and effectively turn it into a 'Run For Life' only with free entry.

There are already (25 x 54) 1350 'parkrun days', due to rise to 2430 next year. Imagine how flogging days to charities at £5k a pop could snowball and how it ticks all the right boxes so to speak. That is the nightmare scenario which would turn away pretty much all the current parkrunners and destroy what now exists.

3. If the London Marathon are actually interested in the long term health and fitness of the country then it is just possible that they may see parkruns as a starting point to adopt a New York style approach, whereby before even being able to apply for a marathon place you have to have completed, say, 25 parkruns. This would show that the applicant had demonstrated a reasonable level of fitness over a period of time. Of course this would then have to be extended to show some sort of experince over 10ks and 1/2 marathons too, but it would be a start.

This would be a positive outcome from such a joint venture and might start to take some of the heavy load off the poor St Johns people on LM day.


It remains to be seen how it pans out but I do have to say that my cynical head smells a stinky little rodent.:p

Oh wait is that me?? :D

I like option 3 though , can we have that one please??

RichOneday_2

becky_rtw wrote: »

Oh wait is that me?? :D

I like option 3 though , can we have that one please??

Not telling...:p:p

becky_rtw

RichOneday wrote: »

Not telling...:p:p

Get back to work you :D

Boiler guy is coming on Saturday now so you have nothing to disturb you from inputting till 5pm :p

beer_tins

Yes, there may also be a guilty conscience on the part of LM to promote grass roots running, which doesn't seem to be the case at the LM event itself.

Or - as you suggest - an attempt to improve the standard of running at the LM. As we know the finishing times outside of the top few % have been slipping for some time. Perhaps they are aware that the event is no longer viewed as very competitive compared to some others.

I for one would welcome a requirement to run a certain (WAVA graded?) 5K time as an entry requirement. Possible 10K+ WAVA times in the future would also help. This may stop so many runners taking part without proper training (and causing the problems for St. John's ambulance) and stop some people viewing it as an "entry level" running event. Of course, you could still have some charity places, without these dominating the event as they have done in recent years.

I do realise much of this is wishful thinking

RichOneday_2

Very well put, Beer Tins!!!

evab_2

Morning all!

Well I ventured out for my first run since the latest cold and didn't have a great time, felt sick and dizzy from 1.5 miles and couldn't wait to get home. Think my body was in shock at the exercise :rotfl:.

Next couple of weeks will be spent building my baseline fitness

Thu 31/12 3.23 miles 33:09 (10:16/mile)

becky_rtw

Awww poor you evab - but the first one back is always the worst so you know it only gets better from here on in

RichOneday_2

beer_tins wrote: »

Thank you! Bromley on the 2nd for me, I think.

Good luck with that, BT. You certainly went well there last time so it will be interesting to see what time you manage.

Because of the way circumstances have fallen we're going to have a crack at completing ELEVEN different parkruns just in the months of December and January.

Tomorrow and Saturday's will be numbers 6 and 7. Since Bromley was one of those we'll be trying somewhere different, otherwise I'd be there...I certainly like the course.:D

Evab - It is a bit like shock because of that sudden increase in volume of oxygen that is being pumped around your body. You'll soon get used to it again though......:D