The Long Course Weekend Wales, now the largest multisport event in Europe, has been postponed to 2022.
The Long Course Weekend, founded in 2010, attracts over 11,000 athletes and 30,000 supporters to Pembrokeshire every year. With athletes travelling from 44 countries and the event being televised in over 100 countries, the event generates almost £40 million a year for the Pembrokeshire economy.
Matthew Evans, CEO says “The Welsh government have worked very closely with the events industry and have developed a control plan that clearly marks out the roadmap for a safe return of outdoor events. The timeframes within this control plan make it impossible to deliver an event of this scale in June. To deliver significant events, Wales needs to be at level 0 and we are currently still at level 4.
The team are absolutely devastated as they have worked tirelessly to get the event on within the guidelines, but fully understand and support the Welsh Government plans, with our communities a priority and the public health position, there is still a long way to go before we introduce events of scale into Wales. To say the decision was tough is an understatement, but most definitely the right one.
Our thoughts are with our athletes, volunteers, communities, charities and partners – all of whom were desperate to get the event happening this year. It’s a special week for so many; from the memories created, the friendships developed, and the hundreds of thousands raised for charity with major support for Hywel DDA (Local NHS), Barnardo’s, Wales air Ambulance and Shelter Cymru.
We are so lucky to have an incredibly passionate team who had; and will now continue to plan the very best comeback event for 2022. We will continue to innovate over the next 12 months to deliver what will be the best show Europe has seen on the Multisport circuit.”
The Long Course Weekend Wales will take place on July 1st – 3rd 2022.
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