The Richmond and Bushy parkruns due to be held tomorrow – Saturday – morning have been cancelled on the orders of the Royal Parks.

The move has been made because the park authorities are due to carry out safety assessments in the morning, which will not be completed in time for the 9am start times.

Both the Royal Parks, along with a number of others in the area, include Marble Hill, have been closed today amid fears the high winds would bring down branches and trees.

The event director for Richmond, Andy Caie, said: "The Royal Parks have closed the park today, with a Health and Safety inspection taking place before potential reopening on Saturday morning. The inspection will not be concluded until after our normal start time so our event is cancelled.

"We hope normal service will be resumed from the 26th."

Bushy parkrun tweeted: "** EVENT CANCELLED*** Royal Parks have cancelled all events for tomorrow, so there will be no Bushy parkrun tomorrow, Saturday 19th February."

Many other parkruns across the country have been called off.

The parkrun chief executive, Russ Jefferys, said: "Understandably, many @parkrun events cancelling due to #StormEunice this weekend.

advertisement

"Trust the event teams to make the right call, even (and especially) if it's a v late decision. Yes it's disappointing to have to cancel but there's always next weekend."

The Royal Parks said Richmond and Bushy parks will not re-open until they are confirmed safe.

A spokesperson said: "We will monitor the forecast closely over the next 24 hours and will communicate updates via our website www.royalparks.org.uk, twitter account @theroyalparks and Facebook pages.

"We will reopen all parks, including Bushy Park as soon as it's safe to do so. Until the parks are open it will not be possible to visit the parks for any purpose."

Crane Park parkrun has also been cancelled, however no decision has yet been made over the Old Deer Park event.

Organisers at Old Deer Park said: "As it stands we are going ahead tomorrow, course currently looks OK.

"But, final decision sits with our RD in the morning. If we need to cancel we will try and give as much notice as possible.

"We are aware most of our neighbours have had to cancel and so likely to be busy!"

advertisement

The Royal Parks tweeted pictures of four trees lost to Storm Eunice.

Update - Old Deer Park: 'Despite best efforts to keep us going ,we've taken a decision to cancel tomorrow's event at Old Deer Park. Stay safe and we'll see you back next week.'