SWINDON’s Race for Life has been cancelled because of coronavirus.

Cancer Research UK has pulled the plug on a  number of events, including its 5k, 10k and Pretty Muddy runs.

The charity had hoped to postpone the events, due to be held at Lydiard Park on October 10, until autumn but because there is uncertainty around when mass events can go head they made the decision to cancel them altogether.

Despite this Cancer Research has launched Race for Life at Home, a new campaign to get people to do their own fitness challenge from home.

Supporters could complete a 5k or 10k run on a treadmill or in their area to help raise money for the cause.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive at Cancer Research UK, said: “Every year, our fantastic Race for Life participants and volunteers come together at events across the country and raise millions for our life-saving research. We’d made a great start to 2020, thousands of people were already signed up to take part and we were excited to kick off the season.

“COVID-19 has unfortunately impacted our plans and we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our Race for Life events. We had hoped to postpone till autumn, but this is no longer possible as we can’t be certain when mass participation events can safely take place again. We’re sorry to our participants and volunteers who hoped to join in this year, but we hope they will understand that safety must be priority.