Lovers of parkrun will have to do without their Saturday morning fix for some time to come.
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Mount Isa's last parkrun was March 14, five months ago, and since that date there have been no parkruns in Australia or internationally though it has recommenced recently in New Zealand.
Parkrun's chief operating officer Tom Williams said the event had completed a COVID-19 Framework, describing how events will operate in countries where an underlying level of community infection still remains.
"As part of our strategy to return we took the decision to separate defining the way events should be reopened, from deciding the date when that process would be considered safe," Mr Williams said.
"We are announcing the process not the date, and as such there is no immediate obligation or impact on any parkrun community. However, by publishing our COVID-19 Framework we are better able to progress conversations around when and where our events may be able to return safely."
Mr Williams said it may take longer for events to return in some places.
"However we have always believed in being patient and protecting the parkrun ethos," he said.
Mount Isa parkrun director Sarah Choyce said the local event won't return until all parkruns in Australia can.
"Given what's happening in the southern states, if we stick with that theory, we will not opening parkrun any time soon," Ms Choyce said.
"When parkrun does return - and it will - I think we'll see a resurgence of people coming for the social benefit."
DISCLOSURE: The author is an avid parkrunner and badly missing his Saturday morning group run.
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