ONE of the event directors for Oswestry's popular park run event has admitted they have been left frustrated by the government's decision to not allow them to return.

Henley Wood parkrun in Oswestry took place each Saturday morning prior to lockdown and often saw attendees hit triple figures as the event's popularity grew.

But despite hopes of a return in October, the latest government restrictions on the number of people mixing in groups has seen the event placed back on the sidelines.

Ellen Harrison, co-event director for the Henley Wood, said the u-turn means they remain back at square one on plans to bring park runs back.

"We would have celebrated our two-year anniversary in October so it was disappointing," she said.

"Obviously we understand the situation that it's not going to go ahead, and when you think about all the volunteers we would need to put in place, we possibly wouldn't have got anyone who was willing to take on doping it at the moment.

"We would have liked it to go ahead.

"We hadn't yet started making plans on how could have made it Covid-secure because the run is on council property down at Henley Wood.

"We would have had to get permission off them as well and come up with a risk assessment as well, so we hadn't started anything of it until we got a definite date.

"It's disappointing that we haven't even got to a position of preparing for it because we didn't know when we'd start again."

Ellen says the group's spirit has not faded away during lockdown, with a number of runners still logging their times virtually.

And she hopes to see all familiar faces back at Henley Wood when park runs are given the green light once more.

She added: "In the meantime, we have a virtual run going – we've been able to keep our community together and we're getting on average 50-60 people nearly every week who go out to do their 5k and submit their time.

"They're not just from Oswestry but all over the UK and Ireland and they're support our park run.

"We would love to see the same numbers back as before lockdown when we are eventually allowed again.

"We have our Facebook and everyone is kept up to date about what is happening and they can see any updates on the situation.

"At the moment, we're trying to keep them all motivated by doing a virtual park run and they are still producing their times."