First Minister Mark Drakeford has been accused of doing more harm than good with his new restrictions affecting sports events from Boxing Day.
Several new regulations for Wales have been announced over the last week, including cutting the number of people allowed at an outdoor event to 50 and cutting spectator numbers at sports fixtures.
Up to 50 people can gather at team grassroots sports events from December 26, in addition to those taking part, but professional sports outfits will be running out to empty grounds in what is usually one of the busiest times of the year.
Read more: Get the latest news on Covid and restrictions in Wales here
The changes, announced in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron Covid variant, mean parkrun 5k events in Wales will be suspended from January 1. Junior parkrun, however, will carry on due to an exemption on children's events.
A parkrun statement said: "Unfortunately, the Welsh Government has also announced a gathering limit of 50 people, from 26 December onwards. Whilst this does not include children, and therefore does not impact junior parkrun, it does mean that we have no choice but to suspend all our 5k events from 1 January onwards.
"We know that some Welsh parkrun events regularly have fewer than 50 people attending, however it would take a very small influx (at what is typically a very busy time of year) for them to exceed the limit."
They say events scheduled for Christmas Day can go ahead as planned, but events from January 1 will be cancelled.
"We understand that this news will be incredibly disappointing to many Welsh parkrunners, and we’d like to reassure you all that we will do everything we can to bring parkrun events back across Wales as soon as these restrictions are lifted," the statement added.
"Thankfully, junior parkrun events are exempt from the 50-person gathering limit and so should go ahead as planned on Sunday 26 December and, in the absence of further changes to regulations, continue as normal. Importantly, junior parkrun events will remain open to all children aged 4 to 14 years old."
Mr Drakeford has since been accused of doing more harm than good in imposing restrictions which limit sports events outdoors.
A joint statement from Tom Williams, parkrun's chief operation officer, and James Williams, chief executive officer for Welsh Athletics, has since been issued which calls on the Welsh Government to work with sports bodies using evidence associated with outdoor physical activity to "agree a way forward such that we can help improve the health of people across Wales".
They said: "Welsh Athletics and parkrun are disappointed and concerned by the introduction of prohibitive restrictions that will once again significantly impact on the ability for people to engage with walking, running, and volunteering activities across Wales.
"The benefits of walking, running, and volunteering for physical and mental health and wellbeing are well documented, and have been championed by many within the Senedd. It is also widely accepted, and supported by the evidence, that not only do outdoor environments present incredibly low risk of virus transmission, but increasing physical activity and health is one of the most important tools for overcoming Covid-19.
"Throughout the last 18 months, running in particular has become a way for many thousands of people to deal with the personal challenges that Covid has posed to them. This has been achieved through a network of opportunities across all parts of Wales – including formal clubs, informal groups, running events and weekly parkrun events.
"Together, these opportunities provide a support network for people from all backgrounds and abilities across Wales, and to take that away right when it is so badly needed, should only be done if the evidence to do so is clear.
"Unfortunately, not only does there appear to be no evidence that stopping events like ours is beneficial overall to public health, but we would argue the evidence suggests doing so does more harm than good."
There is nothing stopping residents of Wales exercising outdoors in smaller numbers in the new regulations, but the new rules make organised events with more than 50 people impossible to go ahead.
"We also know, from many years of experience, that those in need of increased physical activity are most likely to take up opportunities early in the new year, and where they don’t it significantly reduces their likelihood of being active throughout the rest of the year," the statement adds.
"As such, we believe it is a matter of urgency that opportunities for people to walk, run, and volunteer across Wales are not limited over the coming weeks and months.
"We therefore call on the Welsh Government to work with us, look closely at the evidence associated with outdoor physical activity events, and agree a way forward such that we can help improve the health of people across Wales.
"It is very clear to us that the public health benefits of outdoor physical activity events far outweigh the public health risks, and we therefore urge the First Minister to review his control plan and remove the prohibitive restrictions on events such as ours."
Mr Drakeford said on Wednesday afternoon: “We are facing a very serious situation in Wales. A wave of infections caused by the new, fast-moving and very-infectious omicron variant is headed our way.
“This new form of coronavirus could infect large numbers of people in Wales, disrupting daily lives and businesses and could cause an increase in the number of people who need hospital care in the coming weeks.
“We will do everything we can to protect people’s health and livelihoods in Wales – this means taking early action to try and control its spread.
“We are changing the rules for businesses and some public spaces, where lots of different people mix daily and issuing strong and clear advice to help people stay safe in their own private homes and when meeting others.”
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