There has been debate on social media about the parkrun number challenges for a while and, as it is often the case, people tend to hold very strong opinions with fairly limited interest in debate or nuance.
Full disclosure: I enjoy parkrun tourism and the challenges are an interesting and motivating driver in my choices of locations. I do not drive hours to reach a location to tick a magic number, but if I have to choose, why not follow the fake internet badge. I also think large events with many tourists are enjoyable and ‘different’, as long as things don’t get totally under control and event teams are embracing what’s going to happen.
Number challenges: what happened?
On 6 July 2023, the main app used by parkrunners to track performance and challenges, the 5K app, released an update.
On the release notes, it clearly noted it had removed the number challenges (Nelson, Primes and Fibonacci) from its challenge tracker. These challenges would not be part of the list of achievements that are included by the app by default and whose completion is tracked automatically.
You can find a description of what these challenges are about in my parkrun challenges dedicated post, but in brief, it tracked completion of a series of events whose event numbers are in a specific list.
The 5K app is a great tool for anything parkrun and one of its main selling points is that it is actively managed by its developers and it provides frequent updates with detailed and clear release notes.
With this app, there is often a lag between the time when release notes are pushed to the loading screen of all users and the time the update is actually pushed to all iOS devices.
After seeing the note regarding the number challenges, all 3 of them where still on my profile for about 24 hours, but when I looked at it this morning, they were gone.
You can see on the left a screenshot I’ve taken of my app as of 7/7: the Nelson challenge is gone and Fibonacci and Primes are not there anymore either.
So yeah, if you had an achievement or if you were on your way to conquering one, as of this date, it is gone from the app.
Maybe you don’t care, maybe you are terribly disappointed. Either way, no real reason to panic 🙂
Number challenges, why did they disappear?
In the release notes, the developer says he has deleted them on request of parkrun HQ. While the challenges are unofficial and not supported by parkrun HQ, it is reasonable that they would be tracking their impact and if they affect what is essentially a series of events that rely on volunteers and on the goodwill of local authorities and landowners.
I think it is an objective fact that the number challenges have created large one-off spikes to the attendance numbers of certain events, that can put a strain on volunteers and, if it gets too high, even create health and safety concerns or issues with local authorities and land owners. This is particularly true for the Nelson challenge, probably because events that satisfies it are fewer and further between and it only needs 9 events to achieve 100% completion.
I have attended a few Nelson or other number challenges events and I have to say, with the exception of one case, attendance was probably 10/20% higher than normal but always within very manageable levels and event teams always seemed to embrace the weirdness and enjoy it.
The exception was Wimbledon Common event 777, where attendance was roughly double its usual and, while things ran smoothly, the finish funnel had to be managed in innovative ways.
A couple of additional things might have spooked HQ:
- In May, Kingston parkrun issued a request on social media ahead of one of the Fibonacci events. They essentially asked people not to come or they would risk breaching the conditions of their landowner approval. That is a very fair concern and, unfortunately, with a free event, there is no reason to know how many people will show up. As it happened, the feared event had less attendees than average – but the fear was probably well placed;
- Some events already run at very high attendance numbers: Bushy seems to be able to handle it well and others like Clapham Common have grown exponentially as I recently wrote on my Clapham Common parkrun run report. Bushy will go into event 999 soon and Clapham will have event 222 in less then a year. Those could push the boundaries of what can be managed
Is there more behind the decision? No idea, I am sure more gossip will brew and eventually it will get out of control and become the stuff of legends. 🙂 Let’s just take it as a fact and more on.
UPDATE 11/7/23: parkrun HQ have published a blog explaining their position. And the position is reasonable: if things get too popular and they get too many people to go to the same place at the same time, they can create problems. I think 95% of the times, there would not be major issues, but there is no way to control the outlier. No one can tell people to stop chasing a number for their own personal enjoyment, but please bear in mind it can create serious issues. If you want a 999, wait, don’t run to Bushy at the first opportunity. Be sensible, and we will all still be able to continue enjoying our hobby
What next?
The parkrun number challenges (Nelson, Fibonacci, Primes) are not on the app anymore, fact.
You can do one of two things: accept it and forget about them or keep tracking them in a different way as an innocent bit of fun on the side of your parkrun adventure.
The first choice is simple: just keep going with your parkrun life and decrease the risk some events might be overwhelmed by attendance on odd days.
The second choice is also pretty simple too: we can do whatever we like regardless of what the ‘official unofficial app’ has in its default options. And the app, also helps with the possibility of creating custom challenges. Yes, on the 5K parkrun app, you can create your own challenges and the app will track them for you.
I will personally continue tracking Nelson, with some attention to avoid massive events at risk of overcrowding, and maybe also Fibonacci and Prime, if I can be bothered building it up manually.
How to build custom parkrun challenges on the 5K app
On the 5K app:
- Select ‘View Full Profile’
- Select the ‘cup’ icon in the bottom right corner
- Select the ‘+’ in the bottom right corner to start the creation of an additional ‘custom challenge’
- Select ‘Event numbers’ to replicate one of the number challenges
- Name it and describe it as you wish
- Hit plus and add any number you want to be tracked in your series individually. For Nelson, do this 9 times
- Go back to the challenge list and your new parkrun ‘Custom challenge’ will be there and the tracked progression will match what you used to see up to 5/7/23
Conclusions
Let’s remember these challenges are all just fun and games and the badges don’t really exist. Let’s be sensible about our hobby and keep in mind that if an event is at risk of being overwhelmed, there will be another 666 or 999 eventually.
Enjoy parkrun, however you find it most fulfilling!
Hiya, was wondering if you could do an updated step by step post on how to add the nelson challenge to the 5k app please, or email me, the app itself has been updated can I’ve tried to do it without success. Many thanks if you can as I can’t find it anywhere on the net, apart from this post.
Kind regards
bob