Why is Parkrun removing race times from its website?

Parkrun will no longer display the race times of men and women on their website.

The weekly event previously would publish the times of the top men and women, plus their age grade, category and speed records.

But these features have now been removed, as well as a search function to look for runner's times to improve data protection, Parkrun announced on its website on Friday.

The organisation says the changes were made to make the events more inclusive and to make sure new participants weren't put off by quick times.

Parkrun, which hundreds of thousands of people attend every week, has never been competitive and instead describes itself as a "community-led, socially-focused event".

A statement from its head of communication, said: "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 decision to remove the runner's times comes amid lobbying by women's groups, who felt it was unfair trans women competitors were included in the women's category.

But Parkrun has said this did not play a role in the changes.

In March 2023 it was announced transgender women would be excluded from female international athletics events by the sport's global governing body.

Last year, governing organisations for swimming and rugby league also voted to ban athletes who have gone through male puberty from racing in women’s events.

The move has been widely criticised by LGBTQ groups, including Stonewall which said World Athletics' decision was "so disappointing."

How will Parkrun runners get their results?

Runners will get their results including weekly time, age grade and overall position, by email or text.

People's individual profile pages will remain the same, as will the results pages for every event.

The event history page will also stay the same, including the ‘sort’ function at the top that allows data to be displayed in different ways, Park Run says.

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