parkrun and Power of 10

Not considered races, parkrun events are classified on the Power of 10 and runbritain websites simply as ‘parkrun’. This classification encompasses all of our events regardless of terrain or UKA course certification, allowing all parkrun events to be included.

Previous to April 2013 some of our events were classified as 5K (road), 5KMT (mixed terrain) or 5KNAD (near as dammit) and many of our events were not included at all. In consultation with UKA and the Power of 10 we took the decision in early 2013 to move all parkrun events over to the new classification. There were several reasons for this decision...

• parkrun events are not races and the existing classification compromised that definition
• it would become possible for all parkrun events to be included
• course changes, particularly to ‘certified’ courses, would no longer cause issues

ever increasing standards of runners taking part in our events meant the current system placed unfair pressure on event teams due to results being included in high profile national race rankings

• We also believe that this change of classification will encourage local event organisers to stage paid 5k races, and in turn members of the parkrun community to enter those races thereby supporting the UK road racing scene.

The decision to backdate the classification of all previous parkrun events was taken because we believe that the consistency of the Power of 10 ranking system is important and we were determined that no previous rankings would be lost, simply re-classified from 5K to parkrun.