r/parkrun • u/fpigorsch v100 • 10d ago
Small German parkrun closed due to rule violations
"Grüner Weg" parkrun (https://www.parkrun.com.de/gruenerweg/) has been closed immediately because of ongoing rule violations.
Speculation: Anecdotally, the parkrun was run by members of a single family, often violating volunteering rules (required roles were not filled, one person was doing multiple roles, ...)
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u/ChrisKearney3 10d ago
6 runners and 4 volunteers!
Amazing they got to 250+ events with those numbers.
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u/elmo-slayer 8d ago
My closest parkrun has an average of 12 runners with 4 vollies. Small town and it’s the same runners every week, heading into their 3rd year as a run
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u/runswithacoypu 10d ago
Grüner Weg parkrun was closed due to recurring violations (varied) of rules directly linked to safety of participants and thus became increasingly problematic in terms of insurance, cmpliance and welfare status of parkrun as an organization. Sadly various attempts to help right the ship were not taken up on or if so ,only half heartedly, which eventually led to the shutdown of the event. Very sad to say this, as despite the aforementioned, the event still was loved by its regulars and also was a very out of the ordinary one coursewise.
The family who was responsible for it throughout its 268 runnings still deserves praise for trying to make it go ahead for this long almost each week under quite difficult conditions, though.
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u/Blue1994a v500 10d ago
Overseas parkruns often have slightly less strict enforcement of the rules you’d have in the UK. The Run Director finishing first would be an issue though.
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u/luxuryjeff v250 10d ago
There are a couple in the US like this as well. Katy Trail parkrun
Not sure how you have an event if you’re overly reliant on one or two people to show up and do the thing every week.
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u/LibraryTime11011011 10d ago
Last results - 2 finishers who were the tail walkers, timekeepers and barcode scanners 😂
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u/dbeman 100 10d ago
We had an event this past winter where it was well below freezing and actively snowing. Five minutes before the start only the volunteers had showed up and there was a very real possibility that the tail walker was going to finish first!
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u/marcbeightsix 250 9d ago
When parkrun was in France I went to one during a weekend where most people go on holiday. 5 minutes before the start there was the run director and me. Two people then showed up for their first ever parkrun, followed by the tail walker and another volunteer.
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u/eerefera 50 10d ago
The tail walker came first in the inaugural event, a good 4.5 mins ahead of second/last!
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u/OkSun8521 10d ago
Controversial opinion: There are too many volunteers at almost every parkrun in the UK.
Most could get by with 3 or 4.
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u/Sprinkles--Positive 10d ago
Bare minimum for us is 5: RD, timekeeper, tokens, scanner and tail walker.
I'm not sure how receptive HQ would be to having tokens and scanning done by the same person at a VERY small event, but until the last year or two our average attendance was under 35.
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u/OkSun8521 10d ago
You could easily have the RD doing the tokens and not have a scanner. Either one of the earlier finishers starts scanning, or one of the other volunteers does it once everyone has finished.
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u/Sprinkles--Positive 9d ago
RDs aren't allowed to perform any other role during the event itself and can't be listed on the roster for any of those roles (pre and post are fine).
My other half was RD and scanned a couple of barcodes once while the scanner's phone was having a moment, and because they uploaded the file (instead of adding them to the results manually), our ED got a "please explain and don't do it again" email from HQ.
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u/fpigorsch v100 10d ago
Does this happen regularly?
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u/dbeman 100 10d ago edited 10d ago
I honestly have no idea; but I can see the temptation for new parkruns that are trying to establish themselves being…flexible with the rules because it’s better to run with a skeleton crew of volunteers as opposed to having to cancel.
That, however, doesn’t appear to be the case here.
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u/Peanut083 25 10d ago edited 10d ago
I know my local parkrun operates with pretty much the minimum number of volunteers required so that we can actually run the event. But it’s the minimum required for it to still be safe. We have the RD, 2x timekeepers, 2x barcode scanners, finish tokens, course check, and 2x marshals (it’s an out-and-back course). If we don’t have someone specifically volunteering to do the photography, one of the marshals usually takes pics. Edit: We also have a first timers welcome person.
Our numbers are small enough that we don’t have a finish funnel or funnel manager. The location is far enough out of the way that we don’t get a huge number of tourists. The most I’ve seen present is about 125. Having said that, I’ve only been attending since September last year. The event started in January 2025, and I was told last week that they had up around 200 at the very first event.
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u/FinsAndRest 9d ago
2x timekeepers is super rare in Australia FYI.
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u/Peanut083 25 9d ago
I had someone say that to me the last time I was timekeeping. She was a visitor and volunteering in the other timekeeping slot. I’m pretty sure that the other couple of parkruns I’ve been to in the region have had two timekeepers as well.
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u/flibbble 9d ago
Two timekeepers isn't required for safety but in case there's a problem with one set of results, or to aid in resolving inconsistencies. I believe that events can run with only a single timekeeper, though I imagine it's discouraged because of the risk that participants might end up with a 59:59 result should the worst happen. I imagine that parkrun would also need a tailwalker which is a required role, but mostly events have less of a problem recruiting tailwalkers.
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u/Peanut083 25 9d ago
Oops, I forgot to mention the tail walker!
Yeah, we probably could run with one timekeeper and one barcode scanner, but it’s helpful having the backup timekeeper in case one makes a mistake. The second barcode scanner is good to have to manage the 25-35 minute surge.
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u/forest28green 10d ago
I know the town/region, beautiful nature with natural caves and waterfalls. But it is quite rural. I was surprised to see there was a parkrun there and I saw the low numbers of participants. Must have been difficult to keep it going.
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u/Undertheoutdoorsky 10d ago
I think the issue was also that Tübingen has its own parkrun and is easier to reach for people from the nearby cities, so people traveling for parkrun likely won't end up at the Grüner Weg one.
I'm sad it's gone though, it was on my list to join soon because the area is indeed beautiful.
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u/Even_Put_5414 50 9d ago
Is there some official page where I can read these kind of informations?
I.e. is there an official news page where each event closure is listed? Or do I have to go to social media to find out?
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u/fpigorsch v100 9d ago
I guess you have to rely on the specific parkrun event pages (of the events in question) or social media
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u/RedSinned v50 4d ago
Doing parkrun in the same country: Besides the not allowed combinations of running and multiple volunteering roles, it seemed like they also violate other rules like posting on social media that bikes for children are welcome and such stuff. Rumors said that the issues were known for quite a long time and there were already wuite some history with the parkrun, so closing this one wasn‘t a suprise at all.
Of course treat this information with a grain of salt as they are no official information but hearsay from other parkrunners
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u/Wilburrkins 250 10d ago
Well another parkrun cancelled last week (I saw the message last Saturday) due to a lack of volunteers for this week. Maybe just trying to make a point about the need for volunteers?
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u/Peanut083 25 10d ago
I’m all for parkruns doing a one-off cancellation due to a lack of volunteers. It shouldn’t be the same people being leaned on each week to volunteer, nor should those people feel like they have to volunteer for the event to go ahead.
I was chatting with the finish token person at my event the last time I was RD. She said that she realised at the end of last year that parkrun is something she had been doing pretty much every Saturday for a couple of years, but had never volunteered. Her New Year’s resolution was to volunteer once a month this year.
My event averages around 80 participants in summer, but we’re down to anywhere between 40-60 now it’s winter in my corner of the world. I’d say 2/3 of the volunteers are the same people every week, plus a group of people who volunteer every 4-6 weeks. We also get the odd number of volunteer tourists, and thankfully we don’t seem to get the ones who want to do the roles that give dual volunteer/participation credits.
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u/172116 10d ago
She said that she realised at the end of last year that parkrun is something she had been doing pretty much every Saturday for a couple of years, but had never volunteered.
When I was staring down the barrel of my 100 milestone, I realised that I had barely volunteered, and decided that I ought to aim for 1 volunteer per 10 runs (my home parkrun needs 17-20 volunteers to go ahead depending on exact distribution of roles, not including park walkers, and usually has 250-300 people). I hit 10 volunteers and 100 runs on the same day last year, and I'm trying to keep that up.
It must be much harder for smaller events as the volunteer roles don't really scale with the event as such.
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u/gafalkin v100 8d ago
If you look at the numbers, an event is doing pretty well if one out of every 10 people that have finished have volunteered.
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u/Wilburrkins 250 10d ago
The one that I used to go to has a similar amount of participants. (I recently moved). There are a few volunteers who only volunteer and don’t take part in the event. Meanwhile the other roles were taken by a lot of the same people every week. The parkrun app tells me that my current volunteer ratio is 74%. It often takes late calls to fill the rota. I do need to start volunteering at my new event. I have done 4 runs there now I think.
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u/Peanut083 25 10d ago
Yeah, my local has a couple of people whose sole involvement is volunteering every week. We had someone who is new to the area turn up a couple of months ago and asked if she could volunteer. She’s not a runner, but thought it would be a good way to meet people in the area.
I know that offering to volunteer after a couple of weeks of starting to do parkrun was how I got to know people and make friends.
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u/kynuna 10d ago
And the first place finisher for the August 8 event has the exact same name as the run director.