The Tour of Southland cycle race has been postponed as the recovery continues following last week’s “unprecedented regional weather event”, Cycling Southland has announced.
The 69th edition of the event had been scheduled to run from November 2 to 8.
Organisers opted to postpone the race to prioritise resources such as traffic management for use as part of the ongoing State of Emergency for the region.
Cycling Southland president Julian Ineson said the organisation had been liaising with sponsors, funders, local councils and lines companies.
“This has been a really tough call to make, but we believe it’s the right one given the severity of the damage across Southland and the fluid nature of the clean up,” he said.
“These are exceptional circumstances, but we know how hard Southlanders are doing it at the moment and getting services restored has to be the priority. We will regroup and look at what’s required to find an alternative date for the event.”
Organisers had examined several options to continue the race under current conditions but had prioritised the needs of the wider community and rider safety, he added.
Tour director Waine Harding said although a tremendous amount of work had gone into preparing for the race, there was a greater call on resources at the moment.
“There are a lot of moving parts to the event and we will let everyone know as soon as we can regarding future information about the race.”
SBS Bank chief executive Mark McLean said while it was disappointing not to go ahead as scheduled, as principal sponsor they understood and supported the decision.
