Reconsider the new-year-day-double badge

[fraz3alpha]

June's parkrun volunteer update contains the following statement:

New Year's Day

Ever since 2004 we have held special extra parkruns on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Over the years, additional events could be held on special days across the festive period including Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve and for a while it was possible to participate in up to three parkruns on New Year's Day.

In fact there were a number of years when you could record up to eight parkruns in just seven days over the holiday period.

However as the number of events increased it became clear that this situation placed further demands on volunteers and parkrun staff during the traditional holiday period. So in time, we moved to:

An optional special event on a day of a country’s choosing (e.g. Christmas Day in the UK or Thanksgiving in the US) at the usual start time. An optional event on 1 January with the start time varied to allow participation at two different events. For the past couple of years we have been monitoring the situation. As participation at parkrun events has increased, and with it the popularity of and attendances at New Year’s Day doubles, we have decided to review our policy.

Whilst we recognise that New Year’s Day doubles have become something of a tradition, and that largely they are a fun and good natured part of the parkrun experience, we also have to balance this against risk, safety, and the continued good relationships we require with landowners and the general public.

We know that long distances are often travelled between events on New Year’s Day, which potentially puts road users at risk, and that making the start time for the second event is only achievable by quicker participants in some places.

We also see that very often there is a funneling effect at the second event. With more participants than usual on 1 January but with fewer events to go to as some events choose not to host an additional event, the result is significantly higher attendances at many events (sometimes 5-6 times a typical average attendance), which puts pressure on the volunteer team, has caused issues of late with landowners, and creates much busier car parks, cafes and paths. This is compounded by some events taking place later in the morning than usual, resulting in more congestion and conflict with other park users.

For these reasons, we have taken the decision to remove the option for New Year’s Day doubles. We will still allow events to host an additional parkrun on 1 January, at their usual start time.

Whilst we appreciate this might be disappointing news to some, we are still committed to retaining 1 January as an optional additional parkrunday. Our hope is that by removing the pressure of the double, event teams will feel comfortable hosting an extra parkrun if they wish to, providing an opportunity for the whole community to meet up and enjoy the New Year’s Day parkrun experience.

With all that, it doesn't seem right to promote something you can't do, so we should reconsider the inclusion of the badge - which is me politely saying we should probably remove it before January comes around.

[josh-justjosh]

A few alternative options for your consideration:

• Retain the badge & results table for those who have completed the challenge but hide them from those who haven't (may reduce "WHERE HAS MY BADGE GONE!!!!!!" comments)
• Create a new badge for just running on 1st Jan
• Create a new badge for running at both Christmas & NYD (Holiday Double?)
  • this would only be possible in the UK, Australia, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy and New Zealand unless a wider definition of Christmas was used

[markbeech]

How about if the scope was widened to included running two new years day events even in different years?

It would mean everyone who has already earned the badge could keep it, and it becomes a do able challenge for everyone else providing they are willing to work towards it for a couple of years.