Tandragee 100 road races cancelled due to Covid-19 crisis

The announcement on Monday comes following Friday’s confirmation that the Kells meeting in Co Meath had been called off.

In a statement, Clerk of the Course Anne Forsythe said the decision to cancel the race, due to have taken place from April 30-May 1, had been taken “with the intention of keeping people safe”.

It read: “First and foremost, the safety of our society, more than ever, has to come first. Tonight’s announcement to cancel the 2021 Tandragee 100 National Motorcycle Road Races has been taken with the intention of keeping people safe. We look forward to returning in 2022.

“It is important not only to consider the safety of our volunteers and officials, local residents and landowners, local businesses, the competitors and of course our spectators but also the wider general public. If we are to collectively reduce the spread of the disease and lessen the impact Covid-19 will have in the longer term we believe to gather in large numbers for our event is not appropriate given the circumstances.

“Whilst the implementation of the Covid-19 vaccines is welcome news, it is likely that only the most vulnerable and our precious HSC workforce will have received the first dose by the end of February with the second dose not completed until potentially the end of May. This will mean the full effect for these groups won’t be galvanised until June. In addition, it is likely that the rest of the population who want to avail of it won’t be vaccinated until autumn 2021.”

The statement added that many of the medical personnel required to attend the Co Armagh race would be needed to “contribute to the HSC response across Northern Ireland”.

“At a time when our Health & Social Care Services are once again managing significantly increased demand we must not place an additional strain on their precious resources.

“Many of our event medical team and first aiders will still be needed to contribute to the HSC response across Northern Ireland and we also would not wish to potentially divert HSC ambulance and hospital resources to deal with any event related requirements. To all those involved in the response to Covid-19 we thank you.

“As a Club we are of course very disappointed to have to take this decision to delay our 60th Anniversary Celebrations for a second time, however, it is the right thing to do. We believe it is important to let everyone involved know at the earliest opportunity, so everyone is not disadvantaged in any way. We will need everyone’s continued support in 2022 to enable us to celebrate our 60th Anniversary and deliver a truly exciting event.”

A decision on the North West 200 is expected by the end of January or early February. The organisers are looking at running the event in August after conceding that it was "highly unlikely" the event would go ahead as scheduled from May 11-15.

Last year, the rescheduled Cookstown 100 in September was the only Irish road race to go ahead as a result of the pandemic.

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