Issue with runners?

[Gunk]

We don’t have a lot of choice, where we live in Oxford it’s difficult to access decent rural cycling without taking the car, so the bike racks are permanently on the roof of the car.

 

[RoadRider400]

Talk of the carbon footprint keeps on coming around over & over again.
I thought about all these club runners who drive to races almost every Sunday & some are at the other side of the country just to run 10k. Many Don’t even car share. They go to various park runs in the car every Saturday. On New Year’s Day they do the double drive to an earlier park run then drive to another straight afterwards.
I feel that cyclists genuinely care about not burning fuel & taking care of the environment. These runners are clocking up millions of miles in their cars every year just to do mainly short runs but sometimes 10’s, half’s & marathons.
It’s fairly crackers really.
Discuss.

It might be "just" a short run to you. But to them its probably their main passion in life. Just because it doesnt appeal to you doesnt mean people are crackers for doing it. If everybody in the country was a keen cyclist the roads would be jam packed and it would not be so enjoyable.

 

[lane]

What about walking, fishing, metal detecting, train spotting? Come to that what about rich folk jetting around in private jets?

 

[lane]

The main problem I have with park run it makes it hard to park my car when I take my daughter swimming on Saturday morning but I certainly don't claim any moral high ground. Mind you some of the runners parking is appalling.

 

[stephec]

Cyclists I know will do about 3-4 sportives a year. Many ride to them. The serious club runner is obsessed & they’re constantly racing events a
Everywhere & driving to club training. They are worse by far.

Do you have any actual facts or research data to back this up, or did a bloke down the pub tell you?

 

[Yellow Fang]

It used to concern me. I knew runners from my club who would fly to South Africa to run some special ultra marathon down there. I marshalled at Ridgeway Challenge once (about 87 miles trail race). I heard how someone flew across from America to participate. I knew marathon runners who would run a marathon every other weekend, often flying off somewhere to do it. The triathletes used to fly quite long distances to participate in their events, although often they would train for one long event a year and make a holiday of it.

 

[Milzy]

Do you have any actual facts or research data to back this up, or did a bloke down the pub tell you?

Experience of 7 years club running but Nigel down the pub still probably knows these are the facts.

 

[Slick]

I'm not sure where I would fit into this discussion but I'm assuming pretty typical as I have cycled directly from home to do the local Glasgow rides like nightrider and the Glasgow Edinburgh thing, I've also took the bike directly from home in the summertime when we did a wee tour of the Holland, but I also enjoy riding with others who don't necessarily live close by so I drive a fair distance to get a day with them and to mix up my usual routes a bit. I'm also doing the Loch Ness thing in April next year but I haven't quite decided my travel plans for that yet.

 

[screenman]

Does the use of the internet not go against a green policy.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Does the use of the internet not go against a green policy.

Estimated at between six and ten percent of the worlds energy useage and contributing 4% to climate change.

So, who's going to ditch the smartphone?

 

[snorri]

If everybody in the country was a keen cyclist the roads would be jam packed and it would not be so enjoyable.

It's not clear if you mean sharing the roads with cyclists, or sharing the roads with drivers carrying bikes on their cars en route to some sports event?

 

[Globalti]

My problem with runners is the very fact that they run around when a good number of them probably own bikes. They'd get there a lot faster by bike.

 

[stephec]

Experience of 7 years club running but Nigel down the pub still probably knows these are the facts.

You must have been in a very serious club, mine has about 200 members of which probably 30 I would class as seriously competitive, doing about 20 races a year plus XC over winter, and there's always car sharing going on amongst them. The rest are occasional racers like myself, or social runners.

I'll buy Nigel a pint myself if he already knows that.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

@Milzy
Adam, are you trying a wind-up

There's one guy (Terry) who runs (6 miles?) to his designated ParkRun (which was also my 'home' run, when I was running)
Starts at the back, generally passes everyone, & wins by a reasonable margin
At the last one I attended - rode over to watch, he did just that, & won by 46 seconds!! (in a 'sub 17' time)

I'll presume he did as he's done before & stayed till the last one is in?
Then he runs back home
At another local 'PR', there's a (now) husband & wife show up
They ride to it, from a neighbouring village, run then ride back home

No names mentioned, but I'll hazard a guess you know all three?

 

[sleuthey]

I suppose it’s about carbon off setting & it will never be enough to make any real difference.

Surely the main objective of running is recreation. Where as with cycling there are several objectives including both recreation and carbon reduction. Therefore whilst runners are like cyclists in that they propel them selves they do not do it for the same reasons. This surely explains the why they drive to the venue, in the same way as you drive to a bowling alley or snooker hall.