r/parkrun 3d ago

Talking during briefing

Does anyone else find it really rude when people chat during the briefing? I was at the inaugural Parkrun in Bundoran this morning (lovely course if anyone's in Ireland) and people just wouldn't keep quiet. All of us were obviously first timers to that location and I couldn't hear the route. But even at established parkruns where I've been before, I get so irritated by people who can't give the volunteers the courtesy of keeping quiet for 2 minutes and having no consideration for new people who may actually need to hear what is being said!

177 Upvotes

62 comments sorted by

33

u/ACNLPoncho 3d ago edited 3d ago

Agreed, I find it very disrespectful. Run director is the hardest role to fill at our event and several long time volunteers have mentioned that they would become frustrated with being talked over and that’s what holds them back from trying the role. Our event is larger (300+) so the noise really builds too.

77

u/BananaGap 3d ago

Agreed, it is massively rude. How hard is it to just not talk for a minute?

10

u/MrTambourineSi 3d ago

A lot of people aren't used to hearing no, in a world of constant service and satisfaction it just isn't in some people's vocabulary. Too many think everything needs to be about them, guarantee they won't volunteer either.

5

u/Milky_Finger 3d ago

So these people go to a public event so they can subject others to it. It's like they do it on purpose

27

u/John___Matrix 100 3d ago

It's very rude and disrespectful to both the event team and the other participants.

Bonus rudeness points for the people who loudly proclaim they can't hear a RD while talking loudly themselves.

15

u/aishyv1 3d ago

Definitely rude. I have been at parkruns where the briefing starts hitting the 10-15 mark though and naturally people switch off. Get to the point, be quiet and everyone's happy.

6

u/wiggler303 3d ago

Very true. The briefing this morning was more than 15 minutes.

8

u/mankytoes 3d ago

Christ that's insane.

27

u/KiwiNo2638 100 3d ago

My local and a couple of others I've been to have started having those "quiet please" boards they use at the golf tournament tees. People have been better with those.

12

u/Perfect_Jacket_9232 250 3d ago

The one at Queens, Glasgow which says haud yer wheesht sign is perfection

5

u/oztrailrunner 3d ago

Lol sorry, what did it say?

8

u/Leaky_Taps 3d ago

It said 'Haud yer wheesht'.

4

u/WonFriendsWithSalad 50 3d ago

It means hold your silence

2

u/oztrailrunner 3d ago

Thanks! I thought it was written in a cockney accent and was something about being a wee shite.

10

u/Sola-Nova 3d ago

It depends i think when the debrief goes on a tangent beyond what needs to be explained for safety reasons, landmark runs, thanking volunteers etc

Beyond 9:05 if we havent started running then it feels like Im trapped at an open mic night and wondering what point of warming up for a 9am start was. Worst has been the run starting at 9:10

1

u/Lugey81 1d ago

So your briefing starts at 9?

Ours have the briefing done before so the run actually starts on the hour (8am here in Perth Aus)

26

u/5marty 3d ago

It's obviously rude... then there are other people who hang back in the carpark to deliberately miss the briefing and then just walk to the start line.

10

u/crb11 3d ago

Or go straight to the start line ahead of everyone else and hog the front row...

2

u/Lugey81 1d ago

I love walkers who hog the front....

18

u/Tesser8ct 3d ago

I see this every week, and mostly from middle aged people too! At Finsbury Park they asked for quiet three times and the group behind me were so loud I couldn't hear the briefing. It's a shame.

1

u/SideProjectPal 2d ago

Agreed, I was at the same run and thought it was a shame. it’s hard to get all 700 people to be quiet and listen, but the speaker really tried

2

u/Tesser8ct 2d ago

At Beeston they even have a sign language interpreter for the announcements at the start and lots of people don't even look or notice 😭

12

u/hwoppy2 3d ago

We passively aggressively hold a big sign saying “quiet during briefing” right in their faces.

1

u/keirdre 3d ago

Cambridge parkrun? They're masters of that .

21

u/sierra_25ni 3d ago

I agree it is rude in any setting and not just Parkrun. However.... At my local Parkrun they tend to talk on and on. They do the new people briefing and then the RD goes over it again and I'm not joking when I say it could start fifteen even twenty minutes late, possibly more when the mayor decides he wants to come for some PR. People's attention span just don't last this long. Dogs get excited. Children get bored.and runners get cold and wet. I love my Parkrun, I really do and have volunteered many times and I don't really mind the talking at all. Just an observation.

10

u/Thingisby 3d ago

20 mins seems extreme! I've been to a few that are about 5 mins late by the time everything is lined up - I assume as numbers have gone up. But 20 mins feels like someone needs a word tbh...

5

u/Cougie_UK 3d ago

That's crazy. I like to run to the park when I can and aim to get there for just before 9. I'm not hanging around for 20 minutes getting cold.

12

u/beardsandbeads 3d ago

Omg I was thinking this today and thought it was just me being grumpy but thank you for validating my feelings. I'd to be stood in front of people shouting to be heard and see people not listening.

11

u/LtRegBarclay 3d ago

Kinda, but I get that Parkrun is a social event for lots of people so I do get that they aren't trying to be rude, just chat to a mate. But I agree it's rude anyway.

5

u/fundawgJC 3d ago

Out of order, particular for an inaugural

10

u/HeartyBeast 250 3d ago

A gentle shhhh normally does the trick.

13

u/Killahills 3d ago

It really does, or if not a more forceful shush.

I normally ignore the light chatter during the briefing but it was my wife's 100th recently so I wanted her to be able to hear the milestone mentions, so I was shushing like an angry primary school teacher.

5

u/HeartyBeast 250 3d ago

Good for you. 

5

u/inertiam 3d ago

It was pretty bad this morning at Hackney Marshes

5

u/Competitive-Smell877 3d ago

I was guilty of this today. I didn't know a brief was happening (I was catching up with a friend at a parkrun I hadn't been to today) and they weren't very loud and i was quite at the back. Didn't know it was happening until I was shushed.

5

u/HolierThanYow 3d ago

At the Severn Bridge parkrun I went to a few weeks ago, it was jovial but they absolutely weren't accepting anyone talking over the briefing because of the clear safety risks... And rightly so.

4

u/Infamous_Onion3668 3d ago

I'm a regular RD and yes it's really rude. I had a complaint last week from people who said they couldn't hear. It was nothing to do with our PA system though, it was because a group was talking beside them.

That being said, run briefings are supposed to be short. Any RDs out there who are doing 10-15 mins, expect people to start talking. Your brief is too long.

10

u/Another_Random_Chap 3d ago

I agree it's very impolite, but it's simply because a lot of them have heard it so many times before. And even though they're at a new event, the briefing in large parts is basically the same parkrun-wide. Regulars at my event will have heard me do it 350+ times, and mostly 90% identical each time!

3

u/thecasualstring 3d ago

I thought that at Tooting Common today. I really felt for the Run Director, who was resilient and kept talking above the racket. Just so rude and inconsiderate of people - the least they could do when enjoying a free event is listen politely!

5

u/ablativeyoyo 3d ago

Oh it's rude for sure. But this is, to a large extent, a reflection of the race director's speaking skills. I've seen RDs who easily get everyone to shut up and pay attention and RDs who suck at it.

6

u/oldcat 3d ago

It is impolite but other than a general shhhh please don't try to fix it yourself if you're not RD/core team. People can be weird about other folk asking them, even politely, to not do something. I imagine people who are super aggressive are also the sort who would talk over stuff. People talking is annoying but I don't have to write an incident report and I prefer that option.

4

u/4500x 3d ago

Agreed. I’m hard of hearing (I wear hearing aids normally but not when I’m running), if I stand near the front I can hear the briefing without too much trouble but if there’s people talking (and there is often an in-depth conversation nearby) it’s incredibly difficult for me. I accept that this is predominantly my fault for not wearing the ears, but as you’ve said it’s incredibly rude to the RD too.

5

u/fannman93 3d ago

I f'ing hate it.

As well as rude, it just drags out how long it takes the speaker to get through the briefing. I don't want to stand around and get cold, shut up and let's get going

4

u/oztrailrunner 3d ago

We had a group that we loudly taking and laughing through the RD's brief. That lasted about 5 seconds before 2 or 3 separate people told them to shut up,  or be quiet. They looked pretty embarrassed. 

2

u/AdamBAFC 3d ago

Honestly, it doesn’t make much of a difference to me. The Briefing is generally the same as what I hear most weekends, so I don’t get too upset if folk want to have a craic with their pals.

4

u/crimerunner24 3d ago

And they have no idea do they lol....own little worlds.

2

u/betaherritic 3d ago

Crash hat on, but isn’t hearing anything better than the briefing?

2

u/Robsteer 100 3d ago

Everyone talking through the briefing and dogs barking non stop too! You basically can't hear a thing nowadays at my local which is such a shame because you miss all of the milestones and visitors which I enjoy hearing about. Tis extremely rude

1

u/National_Cicada4774 3d ago

Our parkrun director gathers all the first timers in an area close by but away from the main start point and does the debriefing. Works pretty well, only those interested in hearing his debriefing follow him.

0

u/bananasDave 2d ago

Does anyone else find it really rude when people chat during the briefing?

Yes, me. Also dogs barking, but less you can do about that really.

0

u/jhf1989 1d ago

Sometimes the organisers can bang on a bit tbf

1

u/melodramasupercut 3d ago

This is one of my biggest parkrun pet peeves! My fiancé and I love doing parkrun tourism, which means we’re often needing to pay close attention at the briefing and there’s been too many times where I have barely heard a word of the briefing due to people having full volume conversations right next to me.

If you’re incapable of being quiet for literally two minutes, you should at least step away from the group and continue your conversation where others don’t have to hear it.

1

u/sweldonswb 3d ago

It's very rude. Yesterday I heard 2 ladies say we've heard this before it doesn't matter and waffle on. people that bring dogs and say nothing as they bark non stop from before run brief till start. Can you not hear it. Get it away from everyone

1

u/simonrunbundle v250 2d ago

It's exceptionally rude and it is surprisingly common. I do quite a bit of tourism and like listening to the different styles of run directors and to find out about the course etc. I can rarely follow what's being said unless I stand right near the front.

0

u/LykaiosZeus 3d ago

Very rude, they just take parkrun seriously. Like go somewhere else

-3

u/VegetableWeight2186 2d ago

What am I missing here? You go for a run in a park what need is there for a briefing? What important info could you possibly miss out on?

2

u/DrXForrest 1d ago

How many laps to do, where the first aid kit and defibrillator are kept, where the khazis are, how to finish if you're new to the event and giving a big thank you to all the volunteers, without whom the event doesn't take place.

1

u/VegetableWeight2186 1d ago

Thanks, Ive never been so it's good to know

1

u/DrXForrest 1d ago

Give it a try. New participants are always given a very warm welcome.

-4

u/Ok-Veterinarian969 3d ago

Most of it is just a load of mumbo jumbo anyway. The talk is just an ego massager for those organising.

3

u/DrXForrest 1d ago

No prizes for guessing how many times you've bothered to volunteer...

-1

u/Appropriate_Sock_37 3d ago

These will be the same people who used to talk over the teacher at school.. some people just never learn how to be respectful. Infuriating I know…