COVID-19 (Coronavirus) update 19 January

On Saturday we welcomed parkrun events back across the Australian state of Victoria, in a wonderful celebration of all that we love about parkrun. In 2020 people there experienced a long and incredibly restrictive lockdown, which must have been doubly challenging as other Australian states reopened and returned to normal life.

Throughout those incredibly tough months the entire Victoria parkrun community acted professionally and compassionately, patiently waiting for their time to come. On behalf of the entire parkrun staff team I’d like to thank them all for their patience and support, and for their trust in us that we were making the right decisions, hadn’t forgotten them, and that when the time came we would be ready.

Alongside Australia, we saw parkrun events taking place in Japan, Russia, New Zealand, Guernsey, and the Falkland Islands, with an incredible 58,213 people walking, jogging, running, and volunteering across the weekend. The first time round, it took us ten years and one month to reach that many participants in a single week, so we’re back to 2014 levels of global participation already. It’s so reassuring to see that these numbers are in line with the participation rates a year earlier, in January 2020, giving us all hope around the world that when parkrun returns, it will come back just as strong as ever.

Finally, while we’re not expecting to reopen any more parkrun countries over the next month or so, we will continue celebrating where events are open, and working behind the scenes to ensure that when the time comes we will be ready.

Thank you for your patience, support, and trust.

Tom

Tom Williams