Leicester Half Marathon event takes place in city

The race started in heavy rain

A major running event has returned to Leicester for the first time since 2018, after it was cancelled due to flooding and the coronavirus pandemic.

About 1,600 people started the Leicester Half Marathon, despite rain.

In 2018, flooding in the area left many roads completely impassable, leading to the cancellation of both the city's marathon and half marathon.

Race director Andrew Ward said he was "excited" to bring it back.

Organisers said they had looked into ways of re-routing the race before cancelling it

Ahead of the start Mr Ward said: "I certainly hope nothing can get in the way of it this year.

"We think this year is the year and we are very excited to bring it back to the streets."

He said the returning event would have a celebratory feel.

"There will be music on the route - drummers and brass bands - to keep people motivated and pounding the pavements," he said.

"It's been incredibly difficult. Throughout this year we were never sure if we were going to put on the event.

"After having cancelled it for the past two years, the last thing we wanted to do was tell everyone it was going ahead and then have to cancel it a third time.

"We held back until quite late to make sure we were confident we could do it."

The previous route suffered heavily from flooding in 2018

He said volunteers would wear masks and that places were being limited to 2,000 runners - around half the usual number - to allow for social distancing.

The route began at Victoria Park and headed down London Road, through the city centre and up Leicester's Golden Mile, towards Watermead Park.

"After two years of not being able to hold the event, you are starting again from scratch," he said.

"We have loads of people that help us out with marshalling the event, who might have been helping out every single year, but when that habit has gone you're building it back up from nothing.

"But we're through that bit now and looking forward to it."