A decision by the Government in the Republic to delay Phase 4 of lock-down easing means crowds outdoors must be kept to a maximum of 200 people, which is set to impact cycling.
Stickybottle understands the government is set to issue a
clarifying announcement on or before next Monday clarifying how the latest
decision will impact sports.
At present gatherings of up to 200 people outdoors and up
to 50 indoors are permitted under the guidelines in place to combat the spread
of Covid19.
It was proposed that Phase 4 of the easing of lock-down
would begin from Monday and that outdoor gatherings could increase to 500 while
indoor gatherings would increase to 100.
However, because there is some concern that more young
people were now catching Covid19, though cases remain very low, it has been
decided to postpone the beginning of Phase 4 from next Monday to August 10th at
the earliest.
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It means race organisers and sportive promoters must keep
numbers to a maximum of 200 at any one time.
It is unclear if organisers could simply stagger start
times for different races or groups of riders in sportives, though that may be
possible.
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There has been a very high demand for races since
pre-registration for upcoming events in the next few weeks began opening last
week.
The latest extension of restrictions only applies to the
Republic and it should not force the cancellation of events.
However, some special arrangements will be required to
ensure gatherings of more than 200 people do not occur at events.
Racing that has already been run – including the Mondello
Series last Tuesday and some club TTs – have all been run well and they were
not in breach of the 200-person cap for gatherings outdoors.
While some arrangements and logistical tweaks may be
required by race and sportive organisers, the decision to stall the start of
Phase 4 until August 10th is much more likely to have an impact on sports that
attract large numbers of spectators.
Cycling Ireland will be contacting race and sportive organisers
and will issue a statement and/or guidelines early next week after the
Government announcement about sports.
However, with only a small number of events planned for
this weekend, the decision to retain the cap of 200 people on outdoor
gatherings will not impact this weekend’s events.
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