Ararat parkrun event director Tricia Ruthven said they were waiting to get the go-ahead from Parkrun Australia.

"We are all ready to go. We just need a couple of the restrictions lifted," she said.

"Parkrun is a global organisation. The headquarters are in the UK and we also have a parkrun headquarters in Queensland - we are waiting to hear from them.

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"During this time of lockdown, they have been working on how people can run parkrun in the boundaries of being COVID safe.

"There are a couple of states in Australia that are now running parkrun - Tasmania, Northern Territory and the ACT.

"Poor South Australia was meant to open up last weekend, but because of what happened it was all stopped."

The free 5km event takes place at Alexandra Gardens at 8am Saturday, for people of all ages and abilities.

Mrs Ruthven said she was hopeful that Ararat parkrun would return mid-December.

"It's really close. The general feeling is that we should be up and running before the end of the year," she said.

"Although Ararat parkrun only gets about 60 people, places like Albert Park in Melbourne get 400-600 people.

"When an area opens up, it has to fit the entire state. But now that Melbourne is not locked down and we have such great results, it is getting closer every week."

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Mrs Ruthven said they had been encouraging people to keep up their fitness levels during lockdown.

"We have been promoting that people still try and keep up their fitness and 5km. People have been doing parkrun but all at different times," she said.

"Some people I know in the Ararat group have really taken this lockdown time to improve their fitness greatly ... there will be a lot of personal bests."

Mrs Ruthven said parkrun was for all community members, regardless of age and ability.

"We have young people, teenagers, mums, dads and grandparents - the whole gamut of society age-wise is there," she said.

"We also have elite athletes - Mark Thompson holds our parkrun record and completed the 5km in 16.14 minutes.

"Ararat is very fortunate because we have a four-lap course, so people who might not be able to do 5km yet, can do a couple of laps.

"It's a very inclusive community and people really do celebrate everyone's victories. You are never trying to beat anyone else, you are trying to beat yourself."

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