Whaka 100: Disappointment for riders as Covid-19 fears derail event

Despite months of meticulous planning to reduce the Covid-19 infection risk for riders a major cycling event has been canned at the last minute.

Photo: Whaka 100

Rotorua's two-day Whaka 100 cycle race event has been cancelled, due to fears over Covid-19.

The race was planned for Rotorua this weekend until organisers say permission to use trails in Whakarewarewa forest were pulled. Nearly 2000 riders were expected.

Paul Gunn from Nduro Events told Checkpoint written confirmation of the cancellation came at 2.30pm today, just half an hour before in-person registration for the event was due to open at 3pm.

The event was originally meant to take place in October 2021.

"We went through the whole risk assessment... We've been through 102 various different iterations of plans, to deliver at this level. And we settled on what we believe to be a super robust process."

To comply with the 100-person limit, all the rider groups had set sign-in times, staying with other group members as they moved into holding areas, then the start pen before setting off at 10-minute intervals in groups of five riders.

Everyone was double vaccinated and would have been required to fill in daily health questionaires, use sanitation stations and pick up their own medals.

"The system took a lot of thought and energy and we thought it was a good one."

Gunn said it was disappointing, especially for all the riders who have travelled to Rotorua for the event. Around 94 percent of the entrants travel to the region to take part with many telling organisers they intend to go ahead and race the course anyway.

Asked what had changed, Gunn said that in a nutshell, like other parts of the country, there are people in Rotorua who have very valid health concerns about Covid-19. The mana whenua who own the forest and make it available for the event had concerns and passed them on to the forest management group so a meeting was held yesterday.

The organisers had already worked with WorkSafe and MBIE and had final approval given on Monday.

Photo: Whaka 100

"It did turn very very fast and the challenge for us is unwrapping this process and figuring out what it means not just for events locally but also for event directors around New Zealand that if these processes can change so quickly, where does this leave us.

"It's challenging for us, having put in place all these steps and processes we really didn't get the opportunity to run through it. There was no risk assessment process to look at our systems and processes. It was based, as we understand it, on a gut feel.

"We understand people are nervous. We understand that stress, but we would love to have the opportunity to work through it. What we'd like to see moving forward is some sort of risk assessment process put in place, for us here in Rotorua."

He said councils and landowners around the country need to take out "the nervousness, the stress" and "look at these things in a really educated impartial way".

Gunn still hopes they can work alongside others to ensure their next event, the Volcanic Epic, due in March, can engage with everyone involved and come to fruition.