The Running Costs of Exercing

I was saddened to see on the news this week that Stoke Gifford Parish Council voted to charge the organisers of Park Run a fee to use their park.

This is a world first for a council to do this and may set worrying precedence for other strap cashed councils to use Park Run as a way of making some extra money.

The council voted last Tuesday, a majority of 6 to 4 to charge the fee.  They justified this by saying it was, "unfair to expect non running residents to pay for the path up keep."

They say they would be charging the organisers and not the runners.  But as we all know chances are  the cost would eventually be passed over to the consumer.

This decision has caused the weekly event, regularly attended by around 300 runners to close.

Park Run UK is run by volunteers who give up their time to help encourage others to run because they have a passion for the sport and want to see others take up the exercise, which has been found to have many health benefits.




Park Run holds weekly 5 km timed runs around the world in local parks, where it is free to join and run.

This decision goes against Park Run's ethos which is for the event to be free and open to everyone.

There's been strong criticism of the decision on the internet with the likes of Paula Radcliffe voicing her concerns and branding the council 'short sighted' and for the event remaining free for everyone, always.

I would have thought that the upkeep of the park's pathway would be covered in the council tax and so why should runners be paying twice for this? What's next dog walkers to be charged to walk their dogs or a fee to let children play in the play ground?

The counsellors who voted in favour of this are truly indeed short sighted as encouraging people to exercise regularly will reduced the risk of developing diabetes type 2, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, mental health problems, such as stress and anxiety and certain cancers.  These medical conditions cost the NHS millions of pounds each year and if more people exercised then there would be less people needing the services of the NHS and therefore money could be saved and used elsewhere.  But all these counsellors are concerned about is making money rather then encouraging people to get fitter.