July 2020 Barbon Hillclimb Cancelled

By Chairman • May 6th, 2020

It is with regret that having lost the 6th June Barbon Hillclimb following MSUK’s suspension of motorsport, we now have to advise that the 4th July Barbon Hillclimb is also cancelled.

We had hoped that the restrictions connected with the Coronavirus pandemic would have reduced sufficiently to enable us to run the July event, but it now appears that even if some easing of the current lockdown happens before the end of June it is unlikely to be sufficient to allow us to run the event whilst keeping everyone safe from Covid-19.

After a great deal of deliberation including consulting our safety, medical and support volunteers, we have reached the sad conclusion that we won’t be able to run either of the  Hillclimbs at Barbon this year.

The July event would have been just 4 days after the end of the current suspension of motorsport (which may yet be extended) but to give adequate notice of our intentions to everyone connected with the event, we needed to announce our decision at least 2 months prior to the event.
We have now reached that point as we couldn’t afford to wait any longer for MSUK to announce its plans.

The decision has not been easy. No-one knows what the world is going to be like by July as none of us has experienced such an extraordinary situation before, so all we can do is make a decision based on the limited information available today.

We have taken into account a whole range of factors, the main issue being that of social distancing especially in the very restricted paddock space at Barbon.  We have had to consider the welfare of all those involved with the event, competitors, marshals, rescue crew, medics, event officials and of course spectators. We also had to consider the residents of Barbon Village to whom we also have a duty of care. Even if we closed the event to spectators, we would still have had over 250 people on-site which we think is likely to be more than will be allowed when easing of the current restrictions is announced by HM Government.

Clearly, the right thing to do is to cancel the event in order to protect the health of all those who might attend.

I’m sure you will be as disappointed as the members of the organising team who have put in a tremendous amount of work in preparation for this years’ Barbon events but, ultimately, the safety of everyone connected with the event needs to be our priority.

We have now refunded all competitors’ entry fees for this year’s Barbon events

We hope you will support the Barbon Hillclimbs once we are able to run the events again, hopefully, next year.

Stay safe everyone.

John Harden,
Liverpool Motor Club, on behalf of Barbon Hillclimb Ltd.

6/5/2020

 

 

 

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