Lakeside is ideal setting for parkrun enthusiasts

Runners from across the UK have been gradually returning to parkrun courses following its resumption a little more than four weeks ago.

Events in England were given the green light to start again on July 24 after a prolonged absence because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some courses have seen a dip in numbers with those remaining wary of the threat of the Covid-19 spread.

However, great numbers have returned to take on the parkrun 5k events on a Saturday morning.

Last weekend, Portsmouth Lakeside had 194 finishers complete the event.

It’s a little way down on the course record of 429 to make it home in a single event.

Nevertheless it’s still a welcome sight to see runners back out at events across the PO postcode area and beyond.

Along with Portsmouth Lakeside, the 5k courses at Havant, Fareham, Lee-on-theSolent and Southsea are all back in the swing of things.

Across those four events alone last weekend, there were more than 1,300 runners taking to those particular courses.

The seafront course at

Lee led the way in terms of finishing numbers, with 423 runners making it to the finish.

Meanwhile, Southsea atrracted more than 400 parkrunners (407) while Fareham and Havant had 263 and 254 runners take to their respective events.

However, one event in the area which has still yet to resume despite restrictions being lifted is the Whiteley parkrun.

Lee event director Maggie Atkinson is the appointed director for the Whiteley course and remains in the process of getting it restarted. Work is currently continiung to appoint new event and run directors for the course.

There remains hope that, if a new team is put in place swiftly and can be trained, there could be a return at some stage in September.

Although there could be an even longer wait should the correct amount of people not be found to ensure the safe running of Whiteley parkrun.

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