Run Surrey Run will get off the ground as a virtual event this spring.
The inaugural 5K/10K walk/run will be held from June 1 to 15, 2021, after being postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Balsar Community Foundation has planned the walk/run as a virtual event this year in accordance with provincial health mandates to ban all public gatherings that exceed 50 people, according to a post on runsurreyrun.com.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding as we transition to a new date and revised format,” the website states.
“We believe that your cooperation and participation on a virtual basis in 2021 will allow Run Surrey Run to return as a bigger/better and fun-filled event in 2022. We look forward to your attendance and being able to congratulate each of you at the finish line. Until then, stay safe and healthy.”
For 2021, registration is limited to 2,000 participants, for $25 each.
“Run with us, wherever you are!” says a message on the registration link. “You can run, jog, or walk on the road, on the trail, on the treadmill, at the gym or on the track. You get to run your own race, at your own pace, and time it yourself.”
Last March, event organizers said Run Surrey Run wouldn’t get off the ground in 2020 as planned, due to COVID-19.
The inaugural 5K/10K walk/run was set for Sunday, June 7, 2020, with the start/finish at Holland Park and a route through the Surrey Centre area.
“The postponement was a very difficult one and we share the disappointment alongside those that have keenly expressed joy to see the run materialize in Surrey,” event chair Gurjinder K. Bhurji said March 30, 2020, in a news release posted to the event website.
Two months prior, lead organizers Bhurji and Hardip Jhaj, both avid runners, said they couldn’t wait to run the streets of Surrey during in the inaugural Run Surrey Run, which they had hoped would draw anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 participants.
In 2018 Bhurji launched a survey to gauge public interest in launching a Surrey version of Vancouver’s Sun Run, and she says the response was very positive, especially from those in the local running community.
Key to the new event, the women say, is a road circuit that showcases Surrey’s downtown area, and the involvement of both walkers and runners.
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