Decision on restarting parkrun UK on June 5 to be made as World Athletics President Seb Coe lends his support

Tomorrow (Friday May 21) parkrun UK will make a decision on the viability of restarting the almost 600 5k events across England on Saturday 5 June as planned.
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Permissions as they currently stand:

- 244 events (43%) have permission to restart on Saturday 5 June

World Athletics President Seb Coe has now lent his support to the campaignWorld Athletics President Seb Coe has now lent his support to the campaign
World Athletics President Seb Coe has now lent his support to the campaign

- 61 events (11%) have been denied permission

- 239 events (43%) are in process, pending a decision

- 18 (3%) are yet to respond at all

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A critical mass of permissions must be achieved for the resumption of events across England.

With more than three million people registered for parkrun across England, and around 300,000 people taking part on a typical weekend, opening a small subset of parkruns is not safe or sensible.

World Athletics President Seb Coe has now lent his support to the campaign, in an extract from his open letter (which you can read in full here) he says

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Maybe we have taken parkrun for granted. Quietly and unassumingly, parkrun has become part of the fabric of everyday life. But unless we get behind it now, we risk losing it forever.

We should reflect on, and be proud of, how parkrun has helped to make London (and the world) healthier and happier. But it is also time to ensure it has a future.

Because the true legacy of parkrun is not what it has achieved already, but the tonic it could prove to be in the years ahead.”

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