THIS year’s Dursley Dozen race, a popular annual running event which has been organised by Dursley Running Club for the last 31 years, has been cancelled.

After considering a range of options, the club are now planning to run their next Dozen event in November 2021.

A message from the club reads: “It is with great sadness that Dursley Running Club has decided it is not feasible to run the 2020 Dursley Dozen safely and are therefore cancelling the event for the second time in its 31 year history.

“Whilst it is an outdoor event we don’t feel that given the start and finish in Dursley Town Centre that we can safely mitigate the risks and create a Covid-secure environment not just for you the runner but also the people in our community.

“The course obviously also creates its own risks and challenges in terms of being able to set it out, marshal it safely, recover injured runners, enable runners to ascend the precipice in a Covid-secure way.

“After the cancellation earlier this year due to Storm Ciara this is a bitter blow, and it is not for the want of trying to stage it.

“We are hopeful that by putting the event back to the end of 2021 we will give ourselves plenty of time to be able to welcome you back to Dursley so that you can enjoy one of the outstanding off road races in the UK.”