parkrun: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update: 29 September

We were delighted to welcome parkrun back across most parts of New Zealand at the weekend, which together with events in Australia’s Northern Territory and one in the Falkland Islands, saw more than 2,700 people walking, jogging, running and volunteering across 27 locations. The first time round, it took us five-and-a-half years to go from one event to 27, and so, whilst we are aware there are well over 2,000 events still to go, we’re definitely celebrating some forward momentum in our journey back to normality.

Elsewhere, we continue to make good progress as restrictions ease and, all being well, look forward to seeing the number of reopened events increase over the coming weeks as we work towards restarting in more locations around the world.

Disappointingly however, last Thursday we confirmed that we would not be able to restart in England by the end of October, as planned, despite the parkrun UK community expressing a strong desire to return.

Every aspect of life comes with an element of risk, and it is critical that society considers the overall health and wellbeing impacts of all proposed actions and interventions. As the Northern Hemisphere heads into winter, the potential damage resulting from social isolation will increase significantly, and events like parkrun should be part of the solution. Decisions should be made based on the totality of the evidence, and as a charity committed to improving public health, we have an obligation and a responsibility to raise our concerns where we feel this is not happening.

Thanks for your continued passion and support.

Tom Williams

Chief Operating Officer

parkrun Global

The link to the original article can be found here