Parkrun Numbers Count is the name of the new Facebook group for parkrun tourists. Hopefully this post will explain why it was created and how it works. Please note that it is new and evolving quite quickly.
What is parkrun?
Parkrun is a free 5k event run every Saturday. There’s also a parkrun junior on Sundays but for purposes of the “Parkrun Numbers Count” group it’s the Saturday one. They take place in different places around the World! In England and Wales they start at 9am and 9:30am in Scotland and Ireland.
There are unofficial groups, challenges, an app and even official and unofficial merchandise for it.
Read more about parkrun on this blog.
Parkrun Tourism
For many people they just stick with the parkrun they registered with, mostly the one closest to where they live. This is called their “home” parkrun. But for others they like to travel.
You see parkrun means different things to different people. Some travel every week, and others just do tourism when they have to be somewhere else – like on holiday!
There’s a page linking all my parkrun tourism reviews here.
Of those who like to be parkrun tourists there are different community groups. Some are just for information and sharing and others are purely for the love of the stats!
To be a UK parkrun Tourist you need to have run 20+ venues and a parkrun World Tourist needs to have run in 4 different countries.
The parkrun Tourist Cow
Again there’s official unofficial parkrun tourism merch and unofficial parkrun tourism merch to represent the Cow Cowell. The Cow Cowell is so that tourists can easily recognise one another. It came about because the first parkrunner to complete 100 different parkrun events was Chris Cowell. It was then pointed out that half a Cowell (50) is a cow! That cow-cowl sounds like Cowell!
Plus there’s Cowfest – where tourists come together in several locations – the next one is June!
The Removal of the parkrun Stats
Parkrun is in its 20th year and is always evolving. Recently parkrun decided to remove a number of statistics from the public domain. They cited that this was part of their plan to make things more inclusive.
One of the statistics which parkrun removed was the Most Events List. To be on that list you needed to have completed 50 different parkrun venues. The parkrun tourism community utilised this list and it was missed.
About Parkrun Numbers Count – PNC
This is where Phil stepped in and created Parkrun Numbers Count. Then Cass expertly built the Facebook infrastructure to support the idea.
What is the Parkrun Numbers Count Group?
Parkrun Numbers Count is the home of an opt-in Most Events League. In order to be GDPR compliant it is for members of the Parkrun Numbers Count Facebook group who each week give permission to have their stats included in the league. There is a little bit of exception to this but all stats are entered and used with permission of who they belong to.
Joining Parkrun Numbers Count Facebook Group
It is important that you do not join the Parkrun Numbers Count Facebook group via the “invite” option. This also means do not invite people using the button. Unfortunately it cannot be disabled.
What happens is this then bypasses the questions and the Admins cannot confirm if that person qualifies to join the group. You need to have done 20 different venues (but also see The Alberteers below).
Instead direct people to the FB page where they can use the “Join Group” button and answer the questions.
The Format of Parkrun Numbers Count Stats
A simple Google form is used to input current stats. This is not your parkrun time that week, but the total number of venues and parkrun you have done. This is inputted after 10am (GMT) on a Saturday and before 3pm (GMT) Sunday. If you miss the deadline just wait until the following weekend.
Parkrun Numbers Count Identifier
You use the first 3 letters of your home parkrun and the first 3 letters of your first name as an identifier. If there is someone with the same name as you at your home parkrun then subsequent people to join will get a number added after their 6 digit code too.
The Stats
Then the numbers get crunched and put into tables. This includes your parkrun tour ratio and tour position. As well as the positions in both Venues and parkruns leagues.
One table will be for most venues, the other for most parkruns. Then you can find the spreadsheets in the Parkrun Numbers Count files. Each spreadsheet also shows which badge you are at.
Things You Can See From the Stats
From these spreadsheets you can feel more part of the community – do you have a double badge twin? Or challenge yourself against others! For instance my husband might not be as fast as our son but is higher up the chart as he has done both more touring and times! Whilst that same son has done more parkruns than his younger brother – the youngest has actually done more venues!
There’s even talk of some targets being introduced with the Parkrun Numbers Count community! Plus there’s other neat things you can do with seeing if there are words or meaning when you put your two badges together. I am currently on BI!
About Parkrun Numbers Count Badges
Parkrun Numbers Count is evolving all the time but currently for every ten new locations there’s a different badge. They are alphabetical and named after a parkrun also starting with that letter of the alphabet. Likewise every 20 parkruns there is a new badge. Also alphabetical and named after a parkrun also starting with that letter of the alphabet.
Remember you have a badge for your number of venues and another for your number of parkruns. Then use the search option on the Parkrun Numbers Count Facebook group to find your badge groups. The venues badges are blue and the venues green (background header strips on the Facebook image).
Badge Groups
Once you find your badge groups you can go and chat with others who are on similar number levels to you – you may even progress through the different groups together, building stronger bonds – whilst also meeting new people in the community along the way.
The Alberteers
The Albert group is for those between 10 and 19 venues. Now current members of PNC can nominate one person who is an Albert each week to join the tables and badge groups. It needs to be their Facebook name that is used when you nominate so they can join.
Future Developments
As I say it is new and evolving. Future developments include plans for new leagues based on home country parkrun, age category and most at one venue, are in active development discussions. Join any discussions on the Facebook Group to let your input be heard.
* I have previously worked with Flanci.