SLAS cancels two Hill Climbs
View(s):The local governing body for motorsports, the Sri Lanka Automobile Sports (SLAS) has decided to indefinitely postpone two of the country’s oldest hill climb event – Mahagastota Hill Climb and Radella Hill Climb, in consideration of the global pandemic, COVID-19.
This decision comes as a precaution with the growing number of patients being affected in Sri Lanka, which may vary in numbers in weeks to follow, according to a senior official of SLAS.
The Secretary of SLAS, Rizvi Farook, has directed two its affiliated clubs, who are organising the events in writing to postpone the two hill climb events with copies sent to the Secretary of Ministry of Sports, the Director General of Sports and the Assistant Director General of Sports.
The Mahagastota Hill Climb was the first event scheduled for the Holiday Season on April 4 and two days later, on April 6, the Radella Hill Climb was slotted to take place, focusing the annual Nuwara Eliya sporting events. But with the rising number of COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka, the local governing body for motorsports, SLAS, has decided to postpone the events indefinitely.
Both hill climbs are organised by two affiliated clubs of SLAS – the Ceylon Motor Sports Club, who are the organisers of the Mahagastota event, and the Sri Lanka Motorcycle Club, the organisers of the Radella event.
In addition to these two hill climbs, two other important motorsports events lined up in mid-April and early-May also facing a possible postponement, according to SLAS.
They are the Fox Hill Supercross 2020 scheduled for April 18 and 19, organised by SLAS in collaboration with the Military Academy of Diyatalawa, and the Nuwara Eliya Road Race slotted for May 2 and 3, organised by the Sri Lanka Motorcycle Club.
However these two events are still marked as ‘scheduled to take place’ with discussions pending. The SLAS is currently in the process of having discussions with the parties involved in these two events and by next week, it is believed that a final decision will be made weather the events would proceed or postponed, as according to one of its top officials.