With the current threat of coronavirus impacting the health and welfare of Australians, The Canberra Redbacks Athletics Club has today made the decision to postpone the running of the Half Marathon and 10km events scheduled for Sunday 15/03/2020. This decision has not been made lightly and we originally tried to make amendments to our events to mitigate the risk to participants and volunteers. But after much discussion and following the lead from other sporting organisations around the country we thought it is better to postpone the event to a later date. Our event is classed as a non-essential gathering and with participants, volunteers and family members it will attract several hundred people within a small area for bib collection, presentations, post-race food etc.
The Little Athletics State Championships was cancelled today, The Australian Athletics Championships has been postponed, The Canberra Running Festival has been postponed and many other events world-wide have taken a similar course of action.
I have copied some statements from Athletics Australia below and we believe it is our duty as a community club to put the interest of our members, participants and community first in these uncertain times.
President Mark Arbib said; “We are all deeply distressed to have to make this decision and understand the impact this will have on our athletics community. “Following today’s COAG recommendations and our own expert medical advice – we must put the health and safety of our athletes, officials, staff, volunteers and spectators at the forefront of all decision making. AA will endeavour to keep members informed as we move into these unchartered waters and work to qualify our athletes for Tokyo,” Mr Arbib said. Athletics Australia Chief Executive Officer Darren Gocher said; “The community’s health and well-being was the major concern and that athletics has a responsibility to assist authorities in limiting the spread and impact of COVID-19,” “We have an obligation to assist the endeavours in slowing the peak of the pandemic and to minimise the workload of our health care professionals,” Mr. Gocher said.
The club will run the Half Marathon and 10km events later this year when we have more information on the impact of COVID-19 and all entries will be valid for this new date. Most likely the rescheduling will be in Spring but if things settle down we will try and run the event earlier than this.
We hope you understand our decision and look forward to seeing you all at the event later in the year.
Regards,
Philo Saunders
President Canberra Redbacks
