AVON Schools’ team manager Jim Strudwick has confirmed that there will be no new date for the 2019 South West Schools’ Cross Country Championships.
The event was due to be held at Bath Racecourse yesterday and Avon Schools’ officials, led by Ken Holmes, had worked tirelessly to put everything into place to host the championships which would have seen hundreds of young runners from across the region descend on the city.
But the heavy snow on Thursday and Friday left the course un-runable and the approaches to the venue unsafe leaving the Avon organisers with no option but to call off the event.
“It was very disappointing to have to cancel the event,” said Strudwick.
“It took a huge amount of organisation to not just get ready for the event but also in finding the venue in the first place.
“Bath Racecourse would have been a good venue as it has a lot of parking and there is plenty of cover for runners and officials to escape the rain.
“Sadly, it proved to be the worst weekend of the year and on Saturday the course was under six inches of snow and the roads up to the racecourse were looking pretty terrible.
“It was a bit of a let-down to call off the event as after that hard work you have nothing to show for it.”
Strudwick also dashed hopes that the event could be held next weekend or by the end of the month.
“There just isn’t another date available as so many kids have club commitments,” added Strudwick.
“It would just be impossible to organise it again. Sadly, this year’s event has gone.”
Strudwick said the team to represent the county at the English Schools’ Championships in Leeds next month would be virtually the same as was named for yesterday with a few little tweaks to bring in a handful of runners who were unavailable for the regional event.