Parkrun resumption delayed after fewer than half of venues approved return

There are 729 different Parkrun locations across the UK

Parkrun will not resume on 5 June after fewer than half of its venues approved the return of the 5km runs.

The community event was suspended in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers need a significant number of landowners to give permission for races to return to avoid overcrowding at the mass participation event.

ParkrunUK says it hopes to resume all 5k events across England on 26 June, with a decision to be made on 11 June.

"Although more than 250 events do have landowner permission to return, this falls far short of the critical mass needed to prevent overwhelming those that have been given the go ahead," a statement read.

"Opening a small subset of Parkruns is not viable."

It added that a number of landowners had "responded positively" to resuming at a later date.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and World Athletics president Lord Coe have backed the return of the event.

There are 729 different locations across the UK holding the weekly events and more than three million registered runners.