Cycling Ireland has confirmed the national and provincial cyclocross championships, which would have taken place early next year, have been cancelled in their current planned form.
The Government-appointed Sport Ireland Expert Group - which guides the return of sport during the pandemic - has declined to grant the races the 'elite event' status they would require to be held during Level 3 of the Living with Covid-19 plan.
The off road commission has also said as well as the planned national championships and planned Leinster, Ulster, Connacht and Munster championships being cancelled there are also no plans to send an Irish team to the World Cyclocross Championships this year.
However, there is a chink of light in that the off-road commission has said while the national and provincial races as currently planned are cancelled, a review would be conducted early next year to see if they could go ahead at some point.
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Cycling Ireland issued a statement saying:
Over the last number of weeks, the Cycling Ireland Off-road Commission has been engaging with event organisers and the Sport Ireland Expert Group, through Cycling Ireland, towards securing suitable and approved arrangements for the Provincial and National Cyclo-Cross Championships.
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This included the Commission making adjustments to the calendar to reduce the amount of movement by people and ensured commitment from event organisers on implementing the Covid-19 protocols for their events.
However, to date and following consultation with the Sport Ireland Expert Group, we have not been successful in securing the necessary Elite status required to host these events.
Consideration has been given to current restrictions and further uncertainty and likelihood of restrictions being tightened in January. Therefore, the Provincial and National Cyclo-Cross Championships will not take place as currently scheduled.
The Commission will review the situation in early January to see if the National Championships would be feasible later in the year.
The Commission wish to thank the event organisers for their flexibility and commitment so far. We wish to clarify for organisers that the Provincial and National Championship status of these events are withdrawn, however, should the host club decide to run a non-championship race then the club can do that provided they agree the date with the commission and meet their Covid-19 controls.
The Commission have no plans to send any riders to the upcoming World Cyclo-Cross Championships which are due to be held on 30/31 January 2021.
The Commission regret having to make these decisions which will be a disappointment to many but remain committed to working towards a suitable and approved program for all Off-Road Disciplines in 2021 to allow for a return to participation and competition once again.
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