Highbury Fields parkrun is unlikely to return “until at least the spring next year”, one of the Event Directors has warned.
Deb Roback, who coordinates the communal Saturday morning jog alongside her husband John, said that lockdown restrictions could prevent the event from taking place until 2021 at the earliest — even if parkrun’s restart across England comes sooner.
The ongoing closure prevented Highbury Fields from hosting an event to celebrate World Mental Health Day on Saturday 7 October. However, Roback has been using the event’s social-media presence to support the wellbeing of its community throughout the pandemic.
She and her husband have been particularly grateful over the last few months for the local friendships they have made, acknowledging “what a difference being able to talk to someone outside of your own home made” during lockdown. She noted that several Highbury parkrunners have also been exercising together in informal groups while Saturday mornings have remained off-limits.
Nonetheless, Roback acknowledged that a decision to bring the weekly event back would not be without mental-health risks of its own. Participants’ anxiety about the potential for transmission of Covid-19 in group settings also has to be considered by organisers — even if, as the global parkrun organisation noted in a recent press release, there is “little if any evidence” of outbreaks from similar outdoor events.
