Cape Wrath Ultra® and Covid-19

There is continued speculation from our 2021 Cape Wrath Ultra® participants about whether the event will be able to proceed this coming May. We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our plans and reassure our participants that we are doing everything we can to enable the event to proceed, but that we remain especially mindful of the travel challenges that our international participants face, and the public health and personal safety implications of an event going ahead.

Race Director Shane Ohly adds, “Everyone at Ourea Events is working very hard to ensure that, if restrictions allow, we will be ready to deliver our events later this year. Any other approach simply guarantees failure. If we sat on our hands now waiting until the government announced that events could proceed again, then there would be no chance of us being ready when restrictions are relaxed, because events like Cape Wrath Ultra® are complex logistical challenges that take about 12-months to organise.” 

He continued, “It would seem likely that there will be some restrictions throughout 2021 and we are planning to deliver events in a COVID-19 secure way. However, I do feel that an outdoor running event with hundreds of participants (i.e., very small in the context of national events) is low risk and has a reasonable chance of being allowed later in the year. At this stage, we are holding our nerve. The thing that every participant can do to help, is to respect the local restrictions and help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in their community.” 

Summary of the COVID-19 Situation

The coronavirus outbreak remains a very fluid and rapidly changing situation, and we will continue to follow advice from the UK Government, especially Health Protection Scotland and Public Health England. However, we are all aware that the guidance changes on an almost daily basis and therefore planning for what may or may not be allowed in 2021 is very challenging.

We would like everyone who is planning to take part in the Cape Wrath Ultra® in May to be reassured that our first concern will be the health and safety of everyone taking part in the event and our host communities. We will follow the latest good practice guidance and will only go ahead with the event if it is safe to do so. We will always follow guidance on events from the UK Government as the safety of our team and participants is always our first priority. It is highly likely that extra measures will be put in place to make the event COVID-19 secure and we are presently preparing for all such options.

As an example, we have recently purchased hundreds of small ‘2-person’ tents to allow for single-occupancy sleeping arrangements so that we are in the best position to be able to adhere to whatever social distancing requirements would exist at the overnight camps.

Participants attending from Overseas

We are aware that some of our international participants are concerned whether it will be practical for them to attend due to travel restrictions. As a UK-based events business, we need to follow the guidance of the UK Government. We are mindful that there may be some participants travelling from abroad who may be affected by foreign government travel restrictions imposed in their country, which could make it impossible (e.g., an outright travel ban) or impractical (e.g., a quarantine period) for them to attend. On such occasions, we will offer these international participants a free transfer to the 2022 edition or a refund once we are within 3-months ahead of the start date of the event i.e. from Wednesday 24th February.

Participants attending from the UK

If the regulations of the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales and/or the UK Government regulations prohibit attendance at our events for UK residents, we will similarly be offering a free transfer to the 2022 edition or a refund once we have made the decision as per the ‘Deadline Date’ below.

Refunds and Transfers

We want to strike the right balance between our risk of organising the event, and our participants’ risk of making travel and accommodation arrangements for an event that they might not be able to attend or, in a worst-case scenario, needs to be postponed or cancelled.

We believe that it is too early to start offering free transfers or refunds before the times as noted in the above scenarios, whilst we still have a reasonable expectation that this event may go ahead. Therefore, any participant wishing to withdraw from the event in the meantime will be offered the options in our terms and conditions.

Deadline

Inevitably there is a date when we will have to commit to either proceeding with or postponing the event. Such a date is likely to be in early April, but we think it is too early to hang everything on a specific date now. We also understand that many of our UK based participants would prefer for us to “hold our nerve” because they do not have the complications of international travel to consider.

Final Word

We will keep our valued participant community updated as appropriate. Thank you for your patience.

Best Wishes,

The Cape Wrath Ultra® team at Ourea Events.

Making special memories crossing Sandwood Bay on the final day of the Cape Wrath Ultra® 2018 ©Steve Ashworth