The 2020 Tenfoot Swim and Footstep Run weekend is now another casualty to the Coronavirus pandemic – but organisers have responded with a heart-warming gesture.

The two day event, originally scheduled for July 10th and 11th, was due to kick off on the Friday night with a fun run for all ages, before holding challenging swimming and running events the following day. Places were sold out with competitors having paid £50 to enter, and three local charities were set to benefit on top of the £65,000 the event has already raised for worthwhile causes since its inception in 2017.

But in a released statement on Friday, the Tenfoot committee confirmed that despite the cancellation, all athletes would be receiving a 100% refund and furthermore, said NHS staff would have free entry to the 2021 event as a token of appreciation for the ‘wonderful work’ they are currently doing.

The three groups who were due to receive donations from the event – the MND Association, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and Get The Boys a Lift, will remain the chose charities for next time around.

This morning, event Chairman Chris Williams told Telegraph Sport: “We set this up to put something back into the community and see money go to local causes.

“It was an easy decision to cancel as there are more important things going on – and the committee were unanimous that we should offer full refunds to everyone. We might have already incurred costs but since the decision we’ve had businesses, some of which are actually closed at the moment, contacting us to offer sponsorship for next year.”

And Williams added this was also chance to show appreciation to people who were currently working around the clock to keep people safe.

“There is a much bigger picture here and we all pray that people in Pembrokeshire stay safe and everyone who had entered this can come back next year.

“So we thought it was important to give something back to our NHS staff who are risking their lives at the moment to help others. They will have free entry and we also won’t charge athletes who sort out individual sponsorship to raise money for the NHS.

 “We’ve also been contacted by Stuart Mackay, who lives locally, offering NHS staff the use of his house for free that weekend if they are travelling from elsewhere and need accommodation.”

Williams also added that the 2021 version, provisionally scheduled for July 2nd and 3rd, would follow the same format as was set out this year.

“The Friday fun run people can go as far as they like or even walk if they want to, we just want to encourage them to get out there.

“The swim and run events are tough and for safety reasons we again will limit entries to 350. But the atmosphere is always brilliant and we like to keep the weekend unique for the local community.”

Unsurprisingly, athletes have reacted positively to the news with many even pledging to donate their entry fee to charity once they had received it back.

Telegraph Sport spoke to one NHS worker, who asked not to be named, who was entered in this year’s race.

“I’m based at Withybush Hospital and can say how much staff appreciated the announcement by the Tenfoot committee.

“Gestures like that right now make a much bigger difference than people realise and I will definitely be there to take part in 2021.”

For more information, visit the Tenfoot Swim and Footstep Run Facebook page.