Parkruns cancelled across UK over coronavirus

The popular series of free timed runs will now be suspended until the end of March

Parkruns have been cancelled across the UK (Getty)

Parkrun have cancelled all events in the UK until at least the end of March due to coronavirus.

Despite most sporting events cancelled around the world, recreational runners continued to show strong support for the free, weekly, timed runs last weekend.

But with events across 22 countries, the organisers have now confirmed Parkruns are suspended in the UK and every other territory until at least the end of March.

A statement read: “Following government advice and public health guidelines, we are suspending events in Eswatini, Namibia, Russia, South Africa, and the UK from this weekend until at least the end of March.

“With this announcement Parkrun is now closed in every territory around the world until further notice.”

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A total of 139,873 runners passed through the end-of-run scanners at 678 Parkrun events on Saturday.

That was a decrease of 32,654 on the 172,527 of the previous week but higher than three of the five weekly totals from February, when bad weather hit attendance. Indeed the figure recorded for 15 February, as Storm Dennis battered Britain, was 119,102.

Indeed, the figure from Saturday also compares favourably to the equivalent weekend last year, when 118,890 ran on 16 March, 2019.

The most attended Parkruns on Saturday were Bushy Park in London, the site of the first Parkrun, (1,148), Southampton (878), Poole (786) and Heaton Park, which is one of a number in the Manchester area, (693).

Parkruns have been cancelled across the UK (PA)

Parkruns have now been cancelled in every country until at least the end of March:

• Australia
• Canada
• Denmark
• Eswatini
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Republic of Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Namibia
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Poland
• Russia
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Sweden
• UK
• USA