SIERDC prepared to alter calendar as last resort amid Covid outbreak

South Island Endurance Series organisers are prepared to reshuffle their 2021 calendar as a last resort if the Government extends its high Covid-19 alert levels.

New Zealand is at alert level 4 nationwide until at least midnight on Tuesday.

The decision to lengthen the level 4 period until then was made yesterday following confirmation of community Covid-19 cases in Wellington.

There are 31 active cases of the Delta variant across the country, all so far determined to be in the North Island.

Cabinet will meet on Monday and decide whether to extend level 4 or drop some places of New Zealand into level 3.

But Covid experts are at the consensus that the Government will extend level 4 for longer past Tuesday, especially in Auckland where the heart of the outbreak is.

The opening round of the South Island Endurance Series is scheduled to be at Ruapuna on September 4.

The event can only proceed if New Zealand, or the South Island at least, is at alert level 2 or lower.

Likewise, if the North Island is still at alert level 3 or 4, teams located there cannot travel to the mainland for the race.

Ruapuna is still a fortnight away, and series organisers remain prepared to host the event as usual.

“At this stage, we are prepared to still run our series as usual providing the alert levels drop to at least level 2,” SIERDC co-ordinator Cate Paddon told Velocity News.

“If alert levels drop prior to the series commencing, then it will be business as usual in regard to the racing, but with extra precautions such as segregated groups of 100 and no social functions.”

However, SIERDC is not ruling out postponing Ruapuna or cancelling the race if necessary.

“Worst case, if Covid levels do not drop, we will look to shift the first round at Ruapuna.

“We have a few options that we are discussing with Ruapuna and will put to the members if need be.

“Cancelling this round is also an option, meaning dropping to a three-round series. But [it is] not a favourable option.

“We would be exploring all other options and consulting with members and the circuits first before this happened.”

Any reshuffling of the calendar would also be made with the New Zealand Endurance Championship, which is at Hampton Downs in November, in mind.

“We appreciate NZ Champs are the 19th/20th of November and do not wish to clash with this or run too close as we would love our members the best chance to travel north and contest the NZ title,” Paddon said.

“This does make it difficult to reschedule our calendar, so we therefore want to avoid rescheduling anything if possible.”

2021 South Island Endurance calendar:

_{Main Image: Euan Cameron}