The Oceania Cycling Confederation (OCC) has confirmed that the 2020 Oceania Road Championships will not be taking place in Tasmania in Australia, later this year.
Originally scheduled for March 13 to 15, an OCC statement confirmed the news.
“Since becoming aware of constraints regarding the hosting of the Championships in recent weeks, the OCC has exhausted all avenues with Cycling Australia and cycling stakeholders in Tasmania in order to enable the Championships to proceed as planned,” the statement read.
“With two months to the Championships and while entries are not yet open, this difficult decision has been made in order to provide clarity to riders, support personnel, officials and other stakeholders.”
While sincerely apologising for any inconvenience caused, the OCC claimed discussions were continuing with Cycling Australia, Cycling New Zealand and other regional stakeholders to determine a suitable host and date for the event.
There was still hope the competition would take place in Tasmania a few weeks ago, with media reports claiming that cycling clubs across the state were working hard to ensure it would happen – however, these efforts were not successful.
At last year’s event, Australian Benjamin Dyball took out the men’s elite race, while New Zealand’s Sharlotte Lucas won the women’s event.
The OCC is made up of seven full members: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Guam, New Zealand, Samoa and Vanuatu.
It also has three associate members, New Caledonia Northern Mariana Islands and Tahiti.
