All parkruns across the country will return on June 5 - including Astbury Mere Country Park, Congleton.

The five kilometre races, held weekly (Saturday) at 9am at Astbury Mere and across the country, have been suspended due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

But organisers announced the resumption of the popular races in a blog post on their website.

Junior parkrun events - run over a 2km course - will return even sooner, on April 11.

Organised outdoor sports is allowed from March 29 under government guidance unveiled in the roadmap earlier this week.

Parkrun says it is returning when all UK events are able to, to avoid "parkrun tourism" which could see certain events overwhelmed with runners if only a few parkruns resumed at first.

Delaying the return until the summer also allows the infection rate to drop even further and will boost the chances of holding parkrun's largest events, which attract more than 1,000 people weekly.

Parkrun has become a global phenomenon since it was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt at Bushy in October 2004 and now attracts more than 200,000 regular participants around the world.

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