Hopes for runners in our town have been dashed - as the Congleton Parkrun has been postponed once again.

With restrictions easing, there was fresh hope that the event could take place in the first week of June.

However, it has been announced that the event planned for Saturday June 5 will not go ahead.

The group exercise, which takes place in Astbury Mere Country Park, is part of a wider national event by taking place at the same time as hundreds of other runs across the country.

Unfortunately, bureaucratic red tape and slow response times have led to many park owners across the country to not replying in time to give permission for the COVID-safe event to go ahead.

However, event organisers parkrun UK confirmed only 250 events across the country had been given council permission to reopen. It did not reveal which races were given the go-ahead.

Although it was only two weeks ago that parkrun UK posted on social media to confirm Congleton Parkrun had permission to return.

Parkrun organisers for our country would only want the event to go ahead, if most towns and cities could take part.

With Congleton's not going ahead, among others, this falls far short of the critical mass needed to prevent overwhelming those that have been given the go ahead.

It is hoped Cheshire East Council among other authorities and landowners will approve an event later in the month.

Parkrun UK will now target Saturday 26 June to resume all 5k events across England.

Nick Pearson, parkrun Global CEO said: "We will continue to work hard with landowners over the coming weeks to secure the permissions needed to return at the end of June.

"We are incredibly grateful to all of the landowners who have granted events permission to return so far, and for the groundswell of support for parkrun over recent days.

"Although it is disappointing not to be able to return on 5 June, we are still optimistic that we can return parkrun events to nearly 600 communities across England very soon. We will do everything we can to ensure events restart on 26 June."

A decision will be made regarding the go ahead for this new date on Friday 11 June.

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