Parkrun’s June 5 return ‘hangs in the balance’ with only a quarter of courses given green light

The long-awaited return of parkrun ‘hangs in the balance’ as only a quarter of courses in England have been granted landowner permission to stage the events.

Parkrun had set a date of June 5 for the resumption of the popular Saturday morning 5km events, which have been suspended since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, only 161 of 589 venues have so far been the given the greenlight from landowners – with organisers warning ‘permissions must increase significantly over the next seven days’ otherwise they cannot restart on schedule.

A statement from parkrun said: ‘Despite legal permission to return and support from Government, Public Health England and Sport England, a combination of obstacles including misunderstanding the Government’s roadmap, reluctance, hesitation and unnecessary red tape threatens to delay the return of parkrun indefinitely.

‘Parkrun UK must make a decision two weeks ahead of the planned return on whether restarting events on 5 June is viable.

‘With all other sports returning, alongside the reopening of indoor dining and hospitality, further roadblocks to parkrun’s return feel unreasonable, with non-response, red tape and internal administrative processes standing in the way of the inclusive, community physical activity.’

Parkrun will make an announcement on May 21 about the viability of resuming on June 5. The Sunday morning 2km junior parkrun events have already successfully returned.

The mass-participation phenomenon first started in 2004 and has since attracted seven million participants at 2,200 venues across 22 countries.