Return of Peterborough Parkrun postponed

Today (Friday, May 21) Parkrun UK has announced ‘forced delays’ to the planned reopening of the 5k events on June 5, which are attended by thousands throughout the year.

Despite a number of venues giving full landowner permission, the amount falls short of ‘critical mass needed to prevent overwhelming those that go ahead’.

Despite over 250 venues having full landowner permission, Peterborough is still not currently listed on parkrun’s list of approved venues with full landowner permission.

A decision will be made by Parkrun UK on June 11 whether the go ahead for all Parkrun events to resume on June 26.

A spokesperson from Nene Park Trust, told the Peterborough Telegraph earlier this week: “We are currently working with parkrun on bringing back the event to Ferry Meadows, and just need to finalise the details on social distancing to ensure the safety of all participants.

“We are waiting for documentation from Parkrun regarding their social distancing measures to keep both the runners and other park visitors safe, particularly at the start and end.”

Nick Pearson, Parkrun Global CEO said: “We will continue to work hard with landowners over the coming weeks to secure the permissions needed to return at the end of June.

“We are incredibly grateful to all of the landowners who have granted events permission to return so far, and for the groundswell of support for Parkrun over recent days.

“Although it is disappointing not to be able to return on 5 June, we are still optimistic that we can return parkrun events to nearly 600 communities across England very soon.

“We will do everything we can to ensure events restart on 26 June.”