DATE UPATED: March 15th 2020
At the time of writing, all RunThrough events will be going ahead as planned this weekend however we as a team we wanted to drop you a message to make sure you know we are taking every precaution possible to ensure the safety of you all as best we can regarding coronavirus (COVID-19).
Firstly, the rationale behind keeping the event on. The advice we have taken on from our local public health team (based on national guidance) remains that the risk of infection from outdoor events such as our RunThrough events remains low, and that as of now there is no epidemiological or medical evidence to suggest that mass participation events should be restricted at this time.
We also received information from our governing body England Athletics last Thursday after the government update that their events were going to continue to take place. There are plenty of other large scale running events across the country taking place as well as this event.
We appreciate that this may change at any point and we like you await government updates on the matter. However following the most recent updates from the government we will continue with the planning of the event but with some key additions and changes. These changes and additions are:
- All our staff including those on the water station and medals will be issued gloves to wear.
- There will be additional hand sanitiser in the portaloos and on the information desk at the events where hot water and soap cannot be provided.
- All finish line goodies will be on display to pick up yourselves reducing contact.
- Additional bins will be places around the event village for you to place any rubbish.
We also appreciate there is concern following the cancellation of some large scale running events over the next few weeks, mainly the big city marathons. We wanted to also highlight some of the differences between this event and those events.
- These larger road mass participation races sometimes rely on resources provided by the NHS or police. All RunThrough events do not impose any burden on the NHS or police as our medical and stewarding services are independent of public services.
- We have capped all RunThrough events to be less than 500 and will be splitting start times for each distance at the majority of races to ensure that the number of runners in the same place at the same time remains low. An event like the London Marathon can have up to 40,000 people with 100,000s more coming to watch.
- Our events do not close any roads, so access to hospitals or other services will not be restricted by your movements.
We’d also like to offer some advise similar to the government:
- If you have been in close contact with anyone with the virus or are feeling unwell and showing signs of a new persistent cough or high temperate then please don’t run.
- If you have been in any country that has a very high incidence of infections: China, South Korea, Italy for example and have not self-isolated for 14 days do not run.
- Countries such as France and Germany could also be a source of infection. Consider carefully whether you run.
For further advice and guidance please head to the gov.uk website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
If you have had to make the decision to self isolate and are unable to attend the event we would be happy for you to run your chosen distance virtually and we will get your medal posted out to you.
If you’d like to do this please fill this form out HERE
We hope this helps clarify some of the questions you have.
Thank you for bearing with us and we hope to see you soon!
The RunThrough Team