As of today, the New Zealand Government has advised that events of 500 people or more should be cancelled, with no time limit as to when this will be reviewed. The release puts BMXNZ into a situation where this advice influences the 2020 BMX Nationals event.
The BMXNZ Board has discussed various options regarding holding the existing date and bastardising the event to fit within the required limit of event numbers.
All these options revolved around the approach of renaming our single event of two days, into possibly two, three or four events over varying morning and afternoon sessions.
These scenarios to skirt around the government health sanctions would result in a very poor experience for riders & poor value for those paying for possibly three motos and a final so that we can fit all the smaller groups into the weekend.
These scenarios also need to consider the volunteers from the club & officials that must stay for the whole weekend of events, in what could be the height of the pandemic growth in New Zealand.
A third point is that BMXNZ is about to discuss all the remaining medical staff bookings this week with St Johns, as the likely hood that this alone could limit the event, as their staff may re-focus on more important needs.
The other situation BMXNZ needs consider is the recommendation of ‘social distancing’ which is a scientifically proven model to limit the spread of a virus. The BMX staging model does not meet this advice.
So with these many points in mind, it would be irresponsible for BMXNZ to push ahead with the BMX Nationals on the existing dates. In these times of a global pandemic, public health and safety overrides all other concerns where we all should responsibly play our part in limiting the spread and effect of the virus on our community.
BMXNZ and the North Avon Christchurch BMX Club have both reluctantly agreed to postpone the BMX Nationals event to a later date within the 2020 year. Advice on an alternate date will be confirmed as quickly as the BMXNZ and NAC events teams can lock in a viable option.
Additional to this event postponement is the Mighty11 Trials. BMXNZ will endeavour to run a trial at another date shortly. The aim here is to make sure we have a team set & ready should the Trans-Tasman Test be able to be run. An update on this will be communicated to the entered trialists and the sport shortly.
Regards
Warren Boggiss
Board Chairman
BMX New Zealand
Dion Earnest
Executive Officer
BMX New Zealand
