Parallel London was recognised at the recent BT Sport Industry Awards and Sport Business Awards as the Best Mass Partici
We are almost halfway through 2018 and it has already been a year of celebration and frustration, I am enormously proud that Parallel London was recognised at the recent BT Sport Industry Awards and Sport Business Awards as the Best Mass Participation Event and our work around diversity and inclusion also recognised. I am also happy to see the success of our inclusive format start to influence other events and, several super sensory events starting to blossom around the country. Our purpose is to be a catalyst, which helps shine a brilliant light on the positive aspects of inclusion and support people and communities of all abilities to fulfil their potential. I passionately believe everyone has this basic right in society and I also believe in the power of live events, particularly at scale, which can also help to positively influence attitudes and behaviours. For the past 2 years, our Parallel London event has been in the Olympic Park. As our event has grown, so has our footprint and the requirements to ensure our event remains accessible, inclusive, safe and welcoming. Unfortunately, the Olympic Park can no longer meet our needs nor could any other location in central London this year. I can’t begin to describe how frustrating this has been, and it was with enormous regret, that I had to admit defeat for 2018 in London and start to plan for 2019. We now have an opportunity to bid for a slot in a central London Park and if successful, it will provide us with the stability we need to establish ourselves at this location for many years to come. To overcome our disappointment in London, I decided to try and bring forward our plan to create more Parallels across the UK. We managed to find a great space in a smaller park in central London and take a smaller event concept to Glasgow. We invested a great deal of time and resources in both locations, but I took the very difficult decision not to launch the smaller London event and postpone Glasgow on the basis that we simply ran out of time. I realise that having no Parallels in 2018 will be disappointing for many. As a team we are incredibly frustrated, and I am truly sorry that information you have been receiving throughout the year has appeared inconsistent and changeable. We have really put our hearts and souls into trying to make something happen this year. However, the frustrations of this year have given me even greater resolve to make sure Parallel continues to succeed and be one of the best event experiences in the UK. I am fully committed to all our charity partners, sponsors, supporters, ambassadors, volunteers and of course, our amazing participants. To this end, I promise Parallel will be back even bigger and better in 2019 – and beyond. Yours sincerely.
Andrew Douglass
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