Phoenix Running

Update : February 22nd 2022 ...

The Government has announced a timetable for the removal of Covid-19 restrictions including the removal of the need to legally self-isolate from Thursday 24th February and from 1st April 2022 free testing will also end with the public then being required to pay for lateral flow and PCR tests.

As always Phoenix Running are committed to continuing to take all available precautions to keep our runners, event marshals and the general public safe. We will continue to adapt our event processes with a cautious and phased approach to exactly what the final removal of restrictions means for our events and we will continue to work closely with the Public Health Teams in the areas in which we run and to keep you all up to date with any changes we make. We have made many permanent changes at our events such as the addition of our SS1 foot operated hand sanitiser stations and our foot operated finishers’ bell. At our aid stations you’ll see a higher level of, and a continued focus on, the removal / minimisation of unnecessary touch points and we will continue to recommend good hygiene and social distancing where appropriate.We will be continuing with all the sensible processes we’ve adopted and put in place over the last 2 years.

For now, we will continue with our very popular Digital BIB / BIB-less ‘Rock Up and Run’ start process allowing you great flexibility with your start times within a set window and allowing us to carefully monitor the start flow volumes and to start you in small groups or individually - no queues or waiting around for ages before you start. We will reintroduce some mass starts at events where appropriate. Our final event information will continue to recommend the safest practices when passing close to other runners or members of the general public and we’ll provide the latest links to the advice available online.

Update : July 19th 2021 ...

With the Governments easing of Covid-19 restrictions from Monday July 19th 2021, Phoenix Running are committed to continuing to take all available precautions to keep our runners, event marshals and the general public safe. As a result we are taking both a cautious and phased approach to working through exactly what the removal of restrictions means for our events and we will continue to work closely with the Public Health Teams in the areas in which we run and to keep you all up to date with any changes we make. You will see many permanent changes at our events such as the addition of our SS1 foot operated hand sanitiser stations and our foot operated finishers’ bell. With our return to a full aid station you’ll see a higher level of, and a continued focus on, the removal / minimisation of unnecessary touch points and we will continue to recommend social distancing where appropriate.

What we won’t be doing is throwing caution to the wind and having an ‘overnight’ return to mass starts, mass registration, single / mass race briefs and tightly packed aid stations with no social distancing precautions and instantly removing all the sensible processes we’ve adopted and put in place over the last 18 months, just because technically we can.

For the next few months, at least, we will continue with our very popular Digital BIB / BIB-less ‘Rock Up and Run’ start process allowing you great flexibility with your start times within a set window and allowing us to carefully monitor the start flow volumes and to start you in small groups or individually - no queues or waiting around for ages before you start. Our final event information will continue to recommend the safest practices when passing close to other runners or members of the general public and we’ll provide the latest links to the advice available online.

We will continue to have a Covid-19 secure environment in place at all our events which will evolve in line with both the latest Government advice and our own monitoring of infection levels. If at any stage advice changes or we feel the safest option is to tighten restrictions then we will do so in alignment with all the latest advice and the requirements from the relevant official bodies; DCMS, Sport England, and England Athletics, UK Athletics and the Trail Running Association. We are absolutely committed to keeping all our runners, marshals and members of the general public safe.

Update : April 19th 2021 ...

Phoenix Running events are now back in the race calendar in line with the Governments 4-stage exit from lockdown plan. We continue to have a strict Covid-19 secure environment in place at all our events to keep everyone safe. All our events are held with detailed Covid-19 risk assessments which are aligned with all the latest advice and requirements from the DCMS, Sport England, and England Athletics and held under UK Athletics / Trail Running Association permits. We are absolutely committed to keeping all our runners, marshals and members of the general public safe.

All our postponed events from 2020 and early 2021 have now been rescheduled and the new dates are in our race calendar and available on our website in the ‘Running Events’ section. For anyone who has an entry to any of our events, you can always see exactly what you have booked with us and exactly when that event is schedule for by logging into your Phoenix WORLD account and by pressing the ‘crystal ball’ from the menu.

We look forward to welcoming you to one of our running events soon as we cautiously and safely exit from lockdown – we hope!

Update : May 1st 2020 ...

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect running events and athletics across the UK we are continuing to put the safely of our runners and the general public first. In mid March and in line with both England Athletics and Government guidelines we made the agonising decision to postpone all our late March, April and May events from 2020 to the equivalent weekend (or as close to as possible) the following year 2021.

We have now EXTENDED the postponement period for all Phoenix Running events until the end of June 2020, so all our events that were due to take place in June 2020 will be postponed until June 2021 and all entrants will receive an email for their specific event containing the full postponement details and other entry options.

There is no right or wrong answer here, but in line with EA and the UK Government guidelines we sincerely feel that this is the ‘right’ thing to do and we do, or course have a plan!

Some of our main considerations;

Putting our runners first and looking after them

Following specific Government and England Athletics advice

Keeping it simple and avoiding complex deferrals or complex polices

Long term planning and solutions rather than creating more short term issues, such as moving events by 6 months and then having to move them again or causing an overcrowded race calendar.

So far?

We have now postponed all events from March 17th 2020 to June 30th 2020 and moved these to the following year, with the exception of the Denbies 10 & 20 which at the request of the venue has currently been rescheduled to Sunday 2nd August 2020.

The plan?

We have a clear plan!

We have suspended entry to all our events until the end of June ONLY – please feel free to continue to enter events from July onward.

The 20in20

Our 20in20 which was scheduled for April 2020 (part of this is also the 10in10 and 5in5 and there were a whole host of single day entries thrown in for good measure) has been completely moved to 2021 (see below)

So – who is up for the 21in2021........?

We have now to ‘LIFTED & SHIFTED’ the entire 20in20 from this Easter 2020 to next Easter 2021. That’s right the whole lot – 20in20, 10in10, 5in5 and for now, ALL the single day entries – all of it!

All entrants to the 20in20, 10in10, 5in5 and all individual events during the 20in20 have been emailed - please check you spam folders if you haven’t received it

The 21in21 will start on March 27th 2021 and will follow the exact same pattern as was planned in 2020. Every individual day’s themed title will be the same. Same order, same format, same everything.

The only difference will be the addition of day 21 (themed name to be revealed). Every person who’s entered this year’s 20in20, 10 in10 or 5in5 will be automatically get a FREE entry into Day 21.

All of the above events have now re-opened for entry on their NEW dates in 2021

What’s next?

Following on from the 20in20, and from our postponed events in April, each of our planned events will be postponed to the same weekend or nearest weekend the following year.

One by one and in a timely manner we will roll everything on a 12 month basis.

We’ll do absolutely everything for you, so no need for you fill out online forms, we’ll do it all

We’ll be giving all entrants the option of doing their event ‘virtually’ if you can’t make the new date or simply don’t want to wait (details will be in the email you receive)

Why are we doing it this way and not like everyone else?

Firstly because everyone else has postponed by 6 months – we don’t believe that’s long enough and in 6 months time the race calendar just got real busy, real fast! There’s no space and we don’t want to make you choose or lose out due to multiple races. Not to mention, it’s perfectly possible COVID-19 will still be wreaking havoc in 6 months time. The UK race calendar needs sufficient time to stabilise and recover.

However, there are very few races set for this time in 2021 so a rolling 12 month plan seems both sensible and workable for all of us. So, that’s what we’re doing.

We want to avoid complex and difficult to manage transfers and deferrals so that we can ensure no one ultimately looses out.

Coming out of lock-down is going to be a slow process and whilst we can come with any number of complex processes to circumnavigate gathering restrictions, we need to do what’s right and what’s safe, not just what’s possible.

What if I don’t like your plan or I don’t want to wait a year?

We’re flexible as always, but right now we’re asking you to continue to bear with us.

COVID-19 is far from over, so we’re asking folks to let us continue with our plan and let things continue to settle for another month or two. Then we can review things.

Our 12 month plan is already rolling so we can now start dealing with individual race transfers in line with our usual T&C’s and Treating Runners Fairly Policy and bring your entries forward if you wish, however we would strongly suggest continuing to wait until we have a clearer view.

COMING OUT of LOCK-DOWN.

What’s next, how long will this last for and how long will this damn plan go on for?

We’ll continue to email each entrant to each event, race by race, in a timely manner, approximately 1 month prior to each rolling event postponement (a minimum of 2 weeks). This is so you have enough time to re-plan travel / accommodation. It’s a fine line; we don’t want to do it too early in case we can then put the event on, or too late so it’s hard for you to re-plan. We’ll do our best to get it right and believe that so far we have.

We’ll review this on a race by race, month by month basis and the minute we can safely put our races back on then we will.

It’s far from perfect and we know we’re asking a lot from each of you to trust us to do the right thing. We think this is it and we hope you know we have everyone’s best interests at heart.

We also have a detailed plan for how Phoenix Running intends to come out of lock-down and adjust to a new state of ‘normal’ for the next few years. It’s simply too early at this stage to provide details, however we will publish our extraction plan when appropriate.

This Covid-19 plan will be updated again on 1st June 2020

Stay Safe everyone!

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March 17th 2020 ...

This is the message I never thought we’d ever have to write, however we simply must put the safely of our runners and the general public first. This has been an agonising decision with no right or wrong answer, but we sincerely feel that this is now the ‘right’ thing to do and we have a plan!

Some of our main considerations;

Putting our runners first and looking after them

Following specific Government and England Athletics advice

Keeping it simple and avoiding complex deferrals or polices

Long term planning and solutions rather than creating more short term issues

So far?

We have postponed our Denbies 10 & 20 at the request of the venue and we fully support this decision. All participants have already been emailed and an alternative date is set as Sunday 2nd August. We are unable to offer refunds to this event, however in the coming weeks we will be offering more alternatives to defer entries to for anyone who can't make the new date, so that no one looses out.

The plan?

We have a clear plan!

We have suspended entry to all our events in April and May ONLY – please feel free to continue to enter events from June onward.

Our very next event is the 20in20 (part of this is the 10in10 and 5in5 and there are a whole host of single day entries thrown in for good measure).

So – who is up for the 21in2021........?

We have now to ‘LIFTED & SHIFTED’ the entire 20in20 from this Easter 2020 to next Easter 2021. That’s right the whole lot – 20in20, 10in10, 5in5 and for now, ALL the single day entries – all of it!

All entrants to the 20in20, 10in10, 5in5 and all individual events during the 20in20 have been emailed - please check you spam folders if you haven;t received it

The 21in21 will start on March 27th 2021 and will follow the exact same pattern as was planned in 2020. Every individual day’s themed title will be the same. Same order, same format, same everything.

The only difference will be the addition of day 21 (themed name to be revealed). Every person who’s entered this year’s 20in20, 10 in10 or 5in5 will be automatically get a FREE entry into Day 21.

All of the above events have now re-opened for entry on their NEW dates in 2021

What’s next?

Following on from the 20in20, each of our planned events will be postponed to the same weekend or nearest weekend the following year.

One by one and in a timely manner we will roll everything on a 12 month basis.

We’ll do absolutely everything for you, so no need for you fill out online forms, we’ll do it all.

Why are we doing it this way and not like everyone else?

Firstly because everyone else has postponed by 6 months – we don’t believe that’s long enough and in 6 months time the race calendar just got real busy, real fast! There’s no space and we don’t want to make you choose or lose out due to multiple races. Not to mention, it’s perfectly possible COVID-19 will still be wreaking havoc in 6 months time. The UK race calendar needs sufficient time to stabilise and recover.

However, there are very few races set for this time in 2021 so a rolling 12 month plan seems both sensible and workable for all of us. So, that’s what we’re doing.

We want to avoid complex and difficult to manage transfers and deferrals so that we can ensure no one ultimately looses out.

What if I don’t like your plan or I don’t want to wait a year?

We’re flexible as always, but right now we’re asking you to bear with us.

COVID-19 is going to get worse before it gets better, so we’re asking folks to let us start our plan and let things settle for a month or two. Then we can tweak things.

Once our 12 month plan is actually rolling we can easily start dealing with individual race transfers in line with our usual T&C’s and Treating Runners Fairly Policy and bring your entries forward.

What’s next, how long will this last for and how long will this damn post go on for?

We’ll email each entrant to each event, race by race, in a timely manner, approximately 2 week prior to each rolling event postponement. This is so you have enough time to re-plan travel / accommodation. It’s a fine line; we don’t want to do it too early in case we can then put the event on, or too late so it’s hard for you to re-plan. We’ll do our best to get it right

We’ll review this on a race by race basis and the minute we can safely put our races back on then we will.

It’s far from perfect and we know we’re asking a lot from each of you to trust us to do the right thing. We think this is it and we hope you know we have everyone’s best interests at heart.

That’s it for now and we will update this plan as updates become available.

Stay Safe everyone!