There's a good chance that official Parkrun times and placings will get the chop at some point in the future, just like other data was removed in 2024.

Sharron Davies stated in an interview yesterday that Women's Sports Union is preparing legal action against both Parkrun and Sport England as they see them as in breach of equality law.

There were a couple of posts on this yesterday and quite a few responses that politics and parkrun shouldn't mix, but unfortunately that's not what these people believe. Putting aside any rights and wrongs, it's worth looking at the practical effects of this action if it succeeds.

Parkrun will either need to enforce the gender categories in what they see as the "correct" way, or remove all elements of competition from the events: no placing, no times, no records. The only measure will be that you've crossed the finish line. Ms Davies says in the interview that she "doesn't mind" which of these happens.

Some people have suggested removing gender categories completely, but that wouldn't work. The aim is to stop men and women, as they define them, competing in the same category. A single category would, according to them, breach equality law.

As I can't see any way for Parkrun to enforce categories in the way that these people define them, the result will probably be no more placings and times on the Parkrun website, app, or email. They can't stop you measuring your time on your watch, of course, but we'll probably see the end of official Parkrun times at some point.

According to Marathon Handbook, Parkrun has a deadline of Friday to change its policies or legal action will be taken. The article also cites two organisations that have changed their policies as a result of similar legal threats, and Parkrun itself removing course records after criticism from a think tank.

ETA - One route forward for Parkrun suggested by JHock93 is it there are no categories, similar to "open" categories at other running events where men and women compete together. We'd lose other categories (I wouldn't be able to see how badly I'd been beaten by all the other old men) and for many courses there would be no such thing as first woman to cross the line. What an incredible victory for women in sports that would be. However we know that moving the goalposts wasn't enough two years ago, so who knows if this would be enough to head off legal action.

My local parkrun, Taunton, this weekend had 424 finishers with a population of 61,500 people.
However I was in Tonbridge, a much smaller town with population of 41,000 and had 656 finishers.

So, assuming both towns have tourists, there’s a higher % of runners in Tonbridge.

Both towns have a neighbouring parkrun similar distance apart: Bridgewater and Tunbridge Wells.

Both parkruns are established: approx 580 each.

Are there other towns with smaller populations and higher % of runners? thus making them UK’s active town