A number of track and road racing events have been cancelled for this year, despite lock-down restrictions being relaxed, though others have been postponed and will take place later in the season.
The Dublin Track International, which is Ireland’s only
UCI-ranked track meeting, will not take place this year due to the continued
uncertainty related to the pandemic.
The event is very much an international fixture, with top
riders flying in from the UK and all over Continental Europe to take part,
while some riders from Asia and America have also lined out in recent years.
Uncertainty around travel arrangements, and the prospect
of hotel quarantining for some of the foreign riders, means it is impossible to
put plans in place and so the event has been cancelled for this year.
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However, race director Alan Neenan said while the event’s cancellation will be disappointment for many this year, the track meeting will definitely take place next year.
“I’m very disappointed that we’re unable to run the Dublin Track International again this year,” Neenan said of the event that was also cancelled last year due to Covid-19.
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“As a UCI Class 1 event it enables us to bring together the best riders from Ireland and around the world to compete together in a fantastic weekend of racing. We look forward to welcoming the world back to Ireland in 2022.”
In other news, while the Noel and Kieran Hammond Memorial
TT has been postponed from its usual date, Aidan Hammond has told stickybottle
the popular event will take place later in the season.
The event, held in Co Wicklow, was due to take place on
June 26th but it has now been put back to September 25th. Due to the pressures
of Covid-19 generally, it was proving impossible to secure ambulance cover for
the races on the June date, but the event will definitely run in late
September.
Ards Cycling Club has also announced that its Tour of
Ards races, due to be held at the end of this month, will not take place. It
had proven impossible to get adequate PSNI cover to hold the races up to the
safety standards of the promoting club.
The club added it had done everything in its power to run
the event of May 29th, the date it had been rescheduled to, but events outside
its control had conspired against it.
“Due to
the nature of the race and levels of traffic on the roads used, we do not feel
that risk can be managed to acceptable levels without PSNI support,” the club said. “We hope that the issue can be resolved to enable us to run next
year's Tour of Ards.”
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