Coronavirus: All parkruns are cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic

Tom Williams, chief officer for parkrun UK, announced all parkruns would initially be shut until the end of March, but it was expected to continue throughout April.

The free, timed 5km runs are held every Saturday morning at locations across the UK and the world, including at Haigh Woodland Park and Pennington Flash.

Leigh junior parkrun, a 2km event held on Sundays for children, has also been halted, as well as Bickershaw parkrun, a closed event for prisoners at HMP Hindley.

In an email to those registered with parkrun, Mr Williams said: "We know that this message may be a difficult one for you to receive, and many people will be wondering what to do without their regular weekly catch-up. Please rest assured that we are working hard to develop our strategy so that we are able to support the health and happiness of parkrunners around the world during this difficult time.

"Remaining active is incredibly important, and we are working on ways to encourage and support that, however please do not arrange group gatherings at your parkrun venues whilst parkrun events are suspended."