The planned return on September 20 of Tour de Manc has been re-scheduled for 2nd May, 2021.
Coronavirus restrictions in force across Greater Manchester (GM) means organisers do not feel the charity cycle sportive through all the ten GM council areas could go ahead as planned.
1,500 cyclists have signed up for a choice of the 100-mile Full Manc or the 100-Kilometre Half Manc.
Registered riders’ tickets will be valid for next May or they can transfer their place to another rider at no charge.
Among the charities benefitting from the Tour de Manc are the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, the Seashell Trust and the Haematology & Transplant Support Charity (HaTS) at The Christie.
The non-profit Tour de Manc is entirely run by unpaid volunteers for no commercial gain and last year gave all proceeds after costs, £15,000, to Manchester charities. A further estimated £120,000 was raised for their preferred charities by last year’s riders. The rides began in 2015 and have so far directly raised £40,000 for charities. Organisers are exploring alternative ways to support the charities. These will be announced next week.
A statement from the organisers states: “The decision to re-schedule was not taken lightly and we did everything we could to run the event. We understand how much our supported Charities need the fundraising we enable. However, we feel that conditions are currently too uncertain to guarantee our riders we can deliver the event in September. We have had brilliant co-operation from our local authority, charity and sponsor partners and in that spirit, we feel are doing the right thing by moving the event back to next spring, when we hope conditions will be more favourable.”
Full information and updates will be available at www.tourdemanc.co.uk
