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 South Island School Track Championships.

This event was scheduled to take place on 12-13 October in Invercargill.

As our previous announcement indicated, this event could only proceed under Alert Level 2 if the guidelines existing on 20 September allowed an event of its size to proceed.  Under current Alert Level 2 guidelines that is not possible, and with the latest Government update extending those Level 2 guidelines for the Southland region until at least the 4th of October, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to cancel the event.

As with the announcements already made, these decisions by us have not made lightly.  We are having to make decisions on the information and facts we have at the time. We recognise that the cancellation of this event 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 thank all those schools who committed to this event. While some costs have been incurred Cycling Southland have agreed to fully refund those schools who have paid entry fees. Those schools will be contacted separately regarding the refund process.

We would like to say thank you to Sally and the team at Cycling Southland for their work to organise the event. Thank you to the team of commissaires and local volunteers who had committed their time to the event. A special thanks to SKODA New Zealand for their support of this event and Schools Cycling events across the board.

We look forward to returning to Invercargill in 2022 for the SKODA South Island School Track Championships which will be combined with the SKODA National School Track. Championships.

The cancellation of this event, brings a disappointing early end to the 2021 Schools Cycling calendar. In a few weeks we will look to celebrate what our riders have been able to achieve during the year.  In the meantime, good luck to those doing exams and we hope you can engage in some racing closer to home (and virtually!).