The annual Greymouth Street Race has become the latest victim of the return of Covid-19 to the New Zealand community.
The governing body for motorcycle sport in NZ, Motorcycling New Zealand, broke the news via Facebook today following a meeting by the organisers last week.
Their announcement reads as follows:
The Greymouth Motorcycle Street Race Committee held a special meeting on Wednesday night to determine whether to continue preparations for the Labour Weekend event, given the current COVID situation.
Club President Dave McNoe explained “The uncertainty of upcoming level changes and the delays they have caused to preparations, mean that the timeframe available to organise the race would be short, if we are able to run at all. This pressure would not only be on the team, but on the many volunteers, community groups and businesses who all contribute to the weekend”. The committee also considered many other factors, including the financial impact any last-minute cancellation may have on the club, the riders and on the local providers servicing the event. For these reasons they have decided that the 2021 race will be cancelled.
The committee expressed disappointment that they are unable to bring the economic benefits of the several thousand strong crowd to the area, particularly to those businesses who have strongly supported them year after year. They do however remain committed to bringing the race weekend back for Labour Weekend 2022, and have plans in place to ensure that there will be plenty of entertainment to bring even bigger crowds back to the Greymouth streets.
The Greymouth Street Race is one of only a handful of motorcycle street races left with the Nelson event also having a tough time in recent years due to port operations in the vicinity.
The other two major races on the calendar, Whanganui on Boxing Day and the Invercargill Street Race as part of the Burt Munro Challenge in February, still appear to be full steam ahead.
However, neither will be able to run if the latest outbreak isn’t brought under control and the country returns to Alert Level 1.
Here we go again…