Hundreds of runners flocked back to Watford's first parkrun and hailed the "fun, friendly and inclusive community event".
The 5k run in Cassiobury Park every Saturday involves runners of all abilities and starts at the bandstand at 8.45am for a 9am set off.
Colin Taylor was celebrating his 50th birthday during Saturday's first run back and has now completed 112.
“The planning, the professional way the volunteers worked and were managed, and the behaviour of all the runners was exemplary,” he said.
Charles Dytham, who has done a whopping 276 parkruns - 199 at Cassiobury - thanked all the organisers and volunteers, adding: "“I had not realised how much I missed parkrun day and all of the people.
"I still even recognised some of them.
"All that needs to happen now is for my legs to get used to it again."
Saturday’s run saw 318 finishers, with the 33 volunteers making the event run smoothly.
Finish times ranged from 17 minutes to one hour, but no one finished last because there is always a tail walker.
Parkrun volunteer Alistair Balderson said: “I was proud to be the volunteer Run Director for our comeback event after 70 weeks without our favourite Saturday morning activity.
“The new Covid framework worked well, and we were very grateful to Watford Borough Council who worked with us on a change to the start and finish area to give more space for participants.
“As ever, it was a fun, friendly and inclusive community event.”
He said he has been coming since the first parkrun in 2015 and numbers had grown from around 150 to 500 each week by March last year.
Fellow runner Philippa Griffin, who has done 75 parkruns to date, said: “I loved being able to say 'thank you marshal' again and seeing so many familiar faces."
Organisers said newcomers are always welcome and receive a briefing from one of the volunteers on their arrival.
Parkrun encourages everyone to join from four years old and above.
If people want to join in, they can register at www.parkrun.org.uk or email the events organisers at cassiobury@parkrun.com
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