A protest is being staged at a free weekly running event after organisers controversially wiped participant statistics runners say are “inspirational” to them.
Lovers of Parkrun are meeting at Squerryes Winery in Beggars Lane, Westerham tomorrow (May 17) to protest after speed and course records including fastest times and first finishes were abruptly removed from the website.
Parkrun, a community-led running event held in open spaces around the world every Saturday, has removed data from its website in order to be less “off-putting” to new participants, it says.
But many of its regular runners have blasted the decision with two world-wide petitions calling for the data to be reinstated attracting more than 27,500 signatures.
Andrew Harris, from Shorne Woods, near Gravesend, is helping organise this weekend’s protest.
He will be joining hundreds of furious runners from Kent and Surrey for the demonstration at 9am and said he does not understand the decision.
“A lot of us runners are not happy with this as we found the records and stats inspirational, and interesting and they gave many people a sense of achievement.”
“We weren't expecting the lists to be deleted.”
The retired GP has been taking part in Parkruns since 2015 and has completed 382.
He added: “For many of us, it is a big part of our weekly routines.”
In February, Parkrun deleted records from 2,500 parkruns worldwide including lists such as the fastest 500 runners at each parkrun, the age-graded leagues, age-category rankings, first finishers lists, most events, club lists, and many more, claiming they made the free run “too race-like”.
Supporters of the return of the data to the weekly event will be meeting for runs across the country this weekend wearing “Bring Back the Stats” t-shirts to protest the decision.
Dr Harris, 71, said: “We have asked them to reinstate the statistics to the parkrun websites or alternatively to use a compromise like an opt-in function to bring the stats back.”
But he said following a meeting with parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt and CEO Russ Jefferys two weeks ago, they were offered no flexibility or compromise, only two small commitments including to better communication in the future.
Click here to sign the main petition.
He added: “They gave us reasons for removing the stats that we feel don't make sense, for example saying that the records were "off-putting" and made parkrun "too race-like".
Addressing the data removal, in an previous statement a spokeswoman for Parkrun, said: “We try hard to make sure the information we share is consistent with our values, and that, in all that we do, we continue to find ways to remove barriers to registration and participation.
“We know that our websites are an important source of information for all parkrunners, especially those who are new and yet to take part, and we therefore established a global working group to consider how we can present data in a way that is not off-putting and doesn’t imply that parkrun is a race.”
After detailed investigations the working group concluded “there was a disconnect between the performance data displayed so prominently on the site, and our mission to create opportunities for as many people as possible to take part in parkrun events - especially those who are anxious about activities such as parkrun, but who potentially have an enormous amount to gain.”
The conclusion was to remove the data.
Parkrun told the BBC previously it had been looking into making changes to the data it published since before the Covid pandemic and the decision was not in response to criticism it has faced for allowing transgender women to participate in the female category.
Parkrun was approached for further comment.
