It has been quite a surprise to see our own Stoke Gifford in the national media headlines following the decision of our parish council to decide to levy a charge on park runs. I suppose the publicity has not exactly been favourable but hey ho that’s how it goes.
On the night the council decided to go ahead with plans to charge for park runs, I happened to be a few yards away from the meeting hall watching a football match in which my son was playing. For what it is worth, the pitch cost the football team £60 to hire, as well as £27 for a referee. Playing football at Little Stoke is not cheap. In exchange for that £60, players get cramped changing rooms, showers and toilets and the pitch gets marked out. They have to take the posts and nets down themselves.
My sons play cricket for our village team, too. Volunteers from the club do all the preparation for the wicket itself, the club provides all equipment and players play substantial fees in order to play. If you want something for nothing, don’t play football, cricket or for that matter just about anything else.
The park run situation is another thing altogether. In principle and in an ideal world, I would like nothing more than park runs to be free. It is a good thing that people are getting exercise. But I am wrestling with the rights and wrongs with this.
I have been to Little Stoke park on a Saturday morning when the park run is taking place and the car park is always rammed, which is very odd since all of those arguing the other night with councillors appeared to be locals. As well as that, there are football matches on a Saturday morning and players pay to play in them. Many of these players cannot get anywhere near the car park, so park in adjacent streets and the facilities the players pay for are routinely used by the runners. This is a matter of fact and some people I know have been very unhappy about these aspects of the park runs.
And there is a perception in these parts, not even vaguely recognised by the celebrity park run supporters or a compliant media, that there is an element of people wanting something for nothing. I certainly do not sense that there is unanimous support for the park runners’ argument, far from it.
Having said that, no one is against the very principles of park runs but by being pushed into the public arena, bigger questions are being raised about the need for people to take exercise and participate in sport and the level of costs that prevent many of them so doing. Let us be honest: gymnasiums, like the Active Virgin monstrosity behind us, are used by the affluent middle classes; its costs being way beyond the pockets of ordinary folk. But not everyone likes the idea of going to a gym and even those who do go obviously find it so dull they listen to music, presumably to take their minds away from the sheer drudgery of what they are doing. And running for running’s sake, including Park runs and 10ks – what’s that all about? Not all of us look at the prospect of running round a park as being an exciting thing to do. But I have to say this: if I went to take part in a council park in an organised run, I would not be surprised to be asked to make a subscription or donation to assist with the maintenance of said park. I am not someone who expects something for nothing.
This is how I see it all ending:
The pressure from media types and sporting celebrities will begin to tell on the volunteer councillors who will tire of all the grief and, I’m afraid, abuse they are getting and the police presence for the meeting (“in case it all kicks off”, as I was told by a police officer on Tuesday night) won’t be there all the time. They’ll cave in eventually, there will be scenes of joy unconfined with lycra clad joggers and it will all be forgotten within a week.
After all this, I am still on the fence because I can’t square the circle. On the one hand, we want people to be healthy and fit but on the other hand we are saying that the only free option is pounding the lanes in a public park. And everything else costs a fortune.
If nothing else, Stoke Gifford Parish Council has inadvertently put an important item on the national agenda. By imposing a minor cost on park runners, they have drawn attention to the extortionate fees charged to other sports people in exchange for minimal facilities.
Ironically, the parish council is the little guy in all this and the Park Run and its media back up represents an almighty establishment which will ultimately crush the opposition and get its way. No one is coming out of this very well, I’m afraid, and I’m not 100% certain who the good guys and the bad guys are.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion on this, and not everyone will agree, but I thought I’d point out a few things about your post I consider factually wrong- one of which you refer to as a matter of fact by the way!
You refer to the facilities. The changing rooms and showers, they may not be perfect, but you still have them. You’ll have electricity and hot water. Parkrun doesn’t need either of these.
The goal posts and nets are put up by you, but provided by the council (and they cut the grass and mark out the pitch, which requires an employee).
You also get exclusive use of the pitch. No one else can use it whilst you do, no one else but the two teams can join in. Parkrun share the paths. Anyone else can use them, and more importantly can use the whole of the park at the same time.
I could be wrong on this, and correct me if I am, but the council provide insurance also. Parkrun provide their own insurance indemnifying the council should anyone get injured in the park during parkrun. Therefore this costs the council nothing. Public liability insurance is pretty costly, especially in sport, claims are becoming more common.
So we don’t use the same facilities that you point out are a matter of fact.
I’m just pointing these things out. It probably won’t change your or others opinion, but I feel it’s important to point out inaccuracies that I see. Good comment though. And it’s good to see both sides of the issue being considered. I agree the council are being put under undue pressure to a degree. I hope if they do change their mind it is become they convinced by the merits of the argument as opposed to pressure. Ultimately they’ve made a decision and IMO it should be accepted,
Even though I think it’s wrong!
Hi Rick. I appreciate what you have said in this very eloquent article. You say you are ‘on the fence’ but it sounds a little like you are swaying towards the ‘charge for parkruns’ side.
Personally I am a 50-something granny who has been running for approximately 10 years. I am a lot fitter and healthier than I ever have been. I do find pleasure in running, it is not sheer drudgery – and by the way we don’t listen to music because we are bored – the beat of the music helps us to run.
I recently started attending the Chipping Sodbury parkrun and I have really enjoyed the experience with the great spirit of the participants, the volunteers and the supporters. People who have never run before are getting up on a Saturday morning to take part in this 5k run. This often leads to them becoming more confident as humans as well as fitter and healthier. Grandchildren can run with their grandparents – you may say this could happen anyway – well it doesn’t, does it – not for 5k anyway – parkrun makes it happen and the children love it and really look forward to achieving 10 runs when they get a parkrun t-shirt. No-one is judged. All shapes and sizes and abilities join in, and people are running who never thought in a million years they would be. I work in the NHS and I know for a fact that a lot of people come to hospital because they have been inactive for many years and they have diseases because of that. People need to move more. Thats a fact.
I have 3 sons, I have probably paid thousands of pounds for rugby fees, football fees and I have personally helped run a football team as a parent volunteer for several years. I know there is a lot more equipment/admin/red tape required when arranging a football match than there is to go for a run. This is why I feel the ‘we charge for the football so we should charge the runners’ argument is flawed. And at my parkrun, facilities have been improved as we have funded new hand driers in the changing rooms (by voluntary donations), and I know that some parkruns have raised funds for defibrillators in their respective parks – obviously that can only be a good thing.
As for the car park. I have not personally attended a parkrun at Little Stoke, but in my experience from other runs, the car parks can get busy from about 08.45 until about 10.00 on a Saturday morning – after that – all gone and getting on with their slightly fitter and more positive lives.
It would be nice to think that we could live together in harmony appreciating that people all have slightly different needs and payment does not always have to be monetary, and that a free run on a Saturday morning with a group of like-minded folk is not something to look on and feel bitter about. Maybe you should try it? You might like it!
Anyone who uses the term “lycra clad” as an insult generally isn’t interested in serious debate.