Roads: Cookstown 100 postponed until September due to Covid-19

The 2021 Cookstown 100 road racing event has been pushed back until September due to the on-going Covid-10 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns and restrictions.

The event was originally set to take place on the last weekend of April (24-25) but will now, all being well, take place on September 10-11.

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The directors of Cookstown & District Motorcycle Club (RR) Ltd held various conversations over the last few weeks regarding this year’s event and came to the conclusion that the original date would not be safe or practical. 

“We as organisers of the event are extremely disappointed, but we must put the health and safety of our residents, officials, competitors and spectators first,” the organiser’s statement reads. Whilst it is welcomed that the current vaccine process has begun, the time frame of which the vaccine will be distributed to everyone in the community, means the timing of our event in April brings too much uncertainty to competitors, spectators and of course to the club ourselves.

“While this may come as a disappointment to many, we must act in a responsible way and allow time for the vaccine to help protect the community and also allow time for the NHS to become less overwhelmed.

“We hope that by giving extra time in 2021 before running our event, we are in a much better position in our community by September and we will bring another great few days of racing, just as we did in 2020.”

The coronavirus pandemic has played havoc with the road racing schedule. The Cookstown 100 was the only Irish road racing event to take place last year, whilst the Isle of Man TT and North West 200 were both called off.

The 2021 TT has already been cancelled, whilst discussions are on-going with regards to the status of this year’s NW200 – which may be moved from its original date in May. 

Currently, the Southern 100 is still scheduled to go ahead in July, however the Tandragee 100 was called off earlier this month. The Skerries 100 event, held in the Republic of Ireland, is, as it stands, still going ahead. 

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