It’s disappointment for hundreds of thousands of runners across the UK today as parkrun’s much anticipated return is to be delayed from 5 June but the news isn’t all bad as a new target date of 26 June has been set.

Speaking to Sarah Montague on BBC Radio 4’s World at One today (Friday 21 May), parkrun Global’s Chief Operating Officer Tom Williams explained the necessarily cautious approach. Tom restated parkrun’s ‘not one but all’ policy where parkrun should only return if all local parkruns return together. Although the number of landowners who have agreed to the return of their local parkrun is growing every day, there is simply not yet the critical mass for a blanket return.

Running in groups outdoors is likely to be very safe (as runABC reported 28 April) but the risk would be increased if one local parkrun is allowed to return where the neighbouring parkruns are not, leading to the ‘on’ parkrun being overwhelmed.

Although Tom was speaking in terms of parkrun in England, there is no reason to believe that the devolved administrations should differ greatly, restrictions permitting.

Tom did have brighter news when he explained that the new target date is to be 26 June. Whilst accepting that there remains a lot of work to be done, he is hopeful that the new date is a realistic target so it’s very much a case of ‘not yet’ but ‘not long now.’