The Great South Run, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday 18 October 2020 has been cancelled.
Details of an alternative virtual running challenge will be sent to runners
The decision to cancel the event has been taken given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic meaning that going ahead with the event will be impossible. Runners who had a place in this year’s event will be given the option to roll it over to the next Great South Run, currently scheduled to take place on 17 October 2021, or receive a refund of their entry fee.
Organisers are in the process of contacting everyone who is signed up for the Great South Run by email with further information.
Paul Foster, Chief Executive at the Great Run Company, said: “We understand this will be disappointing news to all those who were planning to take part, but the safety of participants, spectators and of all those associated with the staging of the events is always our number one priority.
“Over the past few months we have worked hard to try and find a way to stage the Great South Run while observing social distancing rules, and most importantly, not impacting on our local NHS.
“However, as things stand, and even as the situation improves, it's not going to be possible to meet these goals with any certainty, and so we have concluded that the best course of action is to cancel. We are delighted to be able to offer our runners the opportunity to roll their place over and we look forward to welcoming them back in 2021.
“We want to thank all of our participants and partners for their continued support and understanding.”
Many of people taking on the challenge would have been doing it for charity; at this time charity donations are more important than ever before.
Paul Foster continued: “Event day is only a small part of the challenge our runners take on, they put in a huge amount of preparation and training in the weeks and months before. They should be able to celebrate that achievement.
"So to that end we have designed a virtual running challenge in place of the Great South Run so that runners can still put all those training miles to great use. Great South Run Solo kicks off on Tuesday 1st September. We are contacting all entrants with more detail on this in the coming days.”
