SKODA National School Road Championships Event Update

Schools
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Following on from our statement last week, and in response to the latest Covid-19 update, Cycling New Zealand Schools can now provide further updates on the 2021 SKODA National School Road Championships.

This event was scheduled to take place on 2-4 October in Timaru.

As our previous announcement indicated, with the latest Government update not moving the country into Alert Level 1 this week, we are regrettably cancelling the event.

We, as the Event Organisers (and, we understand, many Schools) were due to incur significant non-refundable costs this week.  With the Government deferring its decision to move Alert Levels until next Monday and with no certainty that the conditions to that movement will be able to be satisfied – this has left us with no other option but to cancel.  We are also very mindful that at that time there are likely to still be significant restrictions on movement of, and mass gatherings by, Aucklanders (who are 56% of our entry numbers).

We thank all those schools who committed to this event and put us in a position where we would have been able to deliver if circumstances permitted. While some costs have been incurred we will fully refund those schools who have paid entry fees.  Those schools will be contacted separately regarding the refund process.

We would like to say a special thank you to Amy and the team at Cycling South Canterbury for their support. We hope to hold the event in Timaru in the future. Thank you also to the team of commissaires who had committed to volunteer their time at the event, and our valued contractors for their understanding.  Thank you also to SKODA New Zealand for their support of Schools Cycling events across the board and a special thanks to our other event partners for their support; Pub Charity, Trust Aoraki, Stonewood Homes, Rotary Club of Temuka, Heartland Potato Chips and Barkers of Geraldine.

As was confirmed last week, the 2022 National Road Championships will be scheduled to be held in the Manawatu.

As with the announcements already made, these decisions by us have not made lightly.  We recognise that the cancellation of this event, for the second year, is disappointing. Our thoughts are with all our school riders, particularly the Year 13 riders who should be celebrating their schools cycling journey with a final opportunity to represent their school. We do however fully support the intent of the Government guidelines, the national health response and the guidelines from School Sport New Zealand. 

We acknowledge that this decision removes another racing opportunity.  We encourage our riders to connect with their local club and centres on what regional opportunities to race are, including supporting the upcoming NRS races here.  We are also looking at another virtual race and will make more announcements as they are confirmed.

As was indicated last week, updates on the SKODA MTB National Championships and the SKODA South Island Track Championships will be made after next Monday’s Government announced and communicated next Tuesday 21st September. 

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