PARKRUN made a comeback across the country over the weekend, including at Sale Water Park.

Around 200 runners went to the free 5km event on the banks of the River Mersey, as well as more than 20 volunteers.

It was the first event since March 14, 2020, before the pandemic put an end to public gatherings.

Vicky Thompson was the run director 16 months ago, and she took up the same role on Saturday.

She said: "I remember feeling like it would be our last event for a while, but little did we know it would be 70 weeks."

Vicky felt the impact of the loss of the event on her own wellbeing, and she described the 'wonderful' feeling of seeing it return.

She said: "Parkrun means so much to so many. It has been hard not having the routine and it has impacted on my mental health.

"It's so much more than a run or walk in the park, it's a sense of belonging and community which is needed now more than ever.

"We were nervous before the event, but we didn't need to be as it all went so smoothly and everyone was so respectful.

"It was just wonderful to see everyone so happy."

The event's winner was a member of Stockport's Davenport Runners, who finished in an impressive time of less than 18 minutes.

The Messenger's own reporter took a less impressive 25 minutes.

Across the UK, almost 100,000 runners and around 13,000 volunteers attended a total of 525 events.

Meanwhile, Trafford’s other event is still waiting to make its comeback at Longford Park in Stretford.

It was set to return last weekend too, but postponsed due to another event on the park's running track.

And it is not returning this weekend after work on a collapsed drain left a hole in the middle of the course.

To register for parkrun, visit parkrun.org.uk/register.