Parkrun ditches course and age-category records - AW

A group that organises running for fun has been found to have removed some of its data after being accused of treating people unfairly based on their gender.

Parkrun has eliminated its web page's course and age-category records and will now only display primary outcomes from its events.

In an effort to shift its focus from performance, parkrun is removing "world records" and data on most wins or achieving specific times. These statistics will no longer be available.

Yet, the decision arrives amid criticisms towards parkrun's policy on gender self-identification. Some event organizers have been blamed for showing "sex discrimination."

The Telegraph published a report stating that parkrun is taking drastic measures because it did not comply with requests to disallow participants from identifying their own gender.

On the other hand, parkrun has consistently boasted about its non-competitive aspect, and characterizes its occasions as leisurely jogging or strolling with routes of around 5 kilometers in length that may not always be precisely measured.

A newly surfaced post on social media by parkrun states: "We acknowledge that our websites are crucial for all parkrun participants and even more so for newcomers. Our research has shown that some of the information we provide and the way we present it can deter people from joining or cause confusion (for instance, we highlight first-place finishers, even though parkrun is not a competition)."

In the next few days, we will cease to make available certain information including attendance records, records related to particular courses, the names of the swiftest finishers, individuals with the most initial finishes, and age-related or category-related records. However, the results pages for all events, your uniquely tailored results email, and your personal profile pages will remain as they are.

Many trans women have broken various parkrun course records that previously belonged to cisgender women. As a result, there have been accusations that such achievements are discriminatory to female runners.

Parkrun declined the request to require transgender runners to disclose their gender assigned at birth. They asserted that their events were mainly focused on welcoming everyone, not just on performance or competition.

According to a statement made by parkrun and published in the Telegraph, adjustments have been made based on a comprehensive review conducted by a global task force over multiple months to determine "the optimal presentation of data without deterring or suggesting that parkrun is a competitive event."

The examination revealed a discrepancy between the parkrun achievement statistics and their aim of offering an opening to an extensive assortment of individuals for engaging in the event.

The people behind Parkrun have stated that they will keep making efforts to guarantee that everyone can participate in and appreciate their events. They want the events to remain as a cost-free way for communities to come together and get outside, socialize and stay active in a welcoming and all-inclusive environment where competition is not the key focus.

Furthermore, parkrun asserts that they had been contemplating modifications even prior to the Covid outbreak in 2020, without any connection to the movement regarding gender self-identification.

Go deeper into the details: Ciara Mageean breaks parkrun record.

Despite this, Fair Play For Women, an advocacy group, stated that Parkrun allowed male individuals to hold the female course records which created an unnecessary disadvantage for women. As a response, several women expressed their complaints about the issue, yet instead of resolving the situation, Parkrun opted to eradicate all records from their website.

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