THE BIRMINGHAM Velo cycle event has been cancelled, another victim in the Midlands of the coronavirus outbreak.
In a statement, organisers said: “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of Vélo Birmingham & Midlands 2020. The event was due to take place on June 21st, at which time we are still likely to be significantly impacted by the current Coronavirus outbreak.
“The government are strongly advising against mass gatherings and non-essential travel and even if it is possible that the situation may have improved by June 21st (which seems far from certain), working restrictions and self-isolation recommendations mean that we are simply unable to complete the work necessary in the next few weeks to ensure that the event could proceed safely and with minimum support from and/or disruption to local emergency services, whose vital work is rightly focused on supporting public health needs through these exceptional circumstances.
“We have put our heart and soul into making this this year’s event bigger and better than before and we know that you will share our huge disappointment at this news. We know how hard you have trained, how much you have supported our incredible charity partners and your own special causes, and how much you were looking forward to the big day.”
The organiser added the cycle race could not be postponed due to the pressure on councils dealing with the outbreak.
Cancelling due to coronavirus means Velo cannot refund riders, organisers added: “Though we carry extensive business disruption and event cancellation insurance, none of these policies cover the unprecedented circumstances of the current outbreak of COVID-19. In addition to losing our forecast revenue for the next three months, over the last 10 months we have already committed a huge amount of pre-paid staging, logistical and staffing costs towards this year’s event which are now unrecoverable. Put plainly, refunding participant entry fees now is not something our business could absorb.”
