Wolverhampton Parkrun on marks for long-awaited return
Wolverhampton Parkrun will hopefully take place later next month, its director has said.
Lisa Eardly, event director of the Wolverhampton Parkrun, said the delay to the event was “understandable”.
It comes as national organisers said Parkrun events will not return in England until at least July 24 after the Government postponed the lifting of pandemic restrictions.
Parkrun is a 5km – 3.1 mile – events for walkers and runners that takes place every Saturday morning across the country and abroad.
The latest one to take place in Wolverhampton’s West Park was back in March – more than a year ago.
Responding to the announcement by Parkrun, Ms Eardly, who is also a nurse, said: “It will be coming back some day.
“Hopefully it will be back at the end of July. I am disappointed but it is understandable.
“We need to keep safe and get vaccinated. Everybody needs to get vaccinated. We need to overcome the pandemic.”
The free 5km Saturday morning runs were due to restart on Saturday June 5 before issues around accessing running spaces pushed their return to June 26.
Parkrun UK said in a statement: “A huge amount of work has been done in recent weeks to ensure we have permission to return from the large majority of landowners.
“Whilst this delay is disappointing, we respect the fact that a significant number of these permissions were contingent on the country moving into Step 4, and we will therefore target a new reopening date of Saturday 24 July.”
Organisers had previously said the decision to proceed with events from June 26 was subject to any changes in the road map announced by Boris Johnson.
It comes after Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden wrote to all councils in the UK last month urging them to permit weekly Parkrun events to resume in their areas. Parkruns take place across the region including events at the Dell Stadium in Brierley Hill, Wyre Forest, Walsall Arboretum and Cannock Chase among others.
