Parish officials are understood to have given their approval after race chiefs twice altered their proposed route to reduce the risk of close-contact with non-running members of the public. However, social-distancing guidance has ultimately forced a change of plan.
The rescheduled 13.1-mile showpiece – originally due to take place on 7 June – was set to feature around 200 runners this Sunday but will now be held as a ‘virtual’ event.
‘We can’t guarantee what we need to be guaranteeing to make it possible,’ said Run Jersey’s Digby Ellis-Brecknell.
‘The parishes had granted permission but the risks of runners coming into fleeting contact with members of the public, or within one metre of them … we can’t put ourselves in the position where that might possibly happen.
‘We didn’t want to cancel the race in June so we postponed and chose a date which we thought was far-enough away, where it would be safe, but sadly we still can’t make it happen. The risks with Covid have increased again and naturally everyone is concerned, so this is the best thing to do.’
Ellis-Brecknell – who devised two new routes this year in an attempt to get the green light – said entrants will instead be urged to run one of three course on their own and then submit their times to race HQ.
Full story in Friday’s JEP.
