Louise Bee
Heavy rain has led to mass cancellation of games and
practices in various sports in Dunedin, and weekend sport could
also be in doubt.
All games and practices were cancelled on Dunedin City
Council grounds yesterday, DCC sport fields facilities
officer Harold Driver said.
A decision on weekend sport is weather-dependent and will not
be made until later in the week.
North Otago sports groups are also preparing for the
possibility of weekend sport being affected.
Midweek basketball in Oamaru was cancelled because of the
flooding around the district, while many rugby and soccer
teams were having to train inside.
Sport Waitaki co-ordinator Louise Bee said local groups were
monitoring the weather and would review the situation closer
to the weekend.
The atrocious weather has also led to the postponement of the
Otago secondary schools cross-country relays at Milton today.
"Due to the current and pending weather conditions and
following some consultation, we have made the decision to
postpone [the] event until Tuesday, June 1," Otago Secondary
Schools Sports Association assistant regional director Geoff
Rodden said.
"We have visited Tokomairiro High School and found the
underfoot conditions very heavy.
"This, coupled with a forecast that suggests very low
temperatures and snow down to around 200m, has convinced us
that for athlete safety it is best not to run the event
[today].
"With a number of schools travelling some distance, it was
decided to make this call early to ensure suitable time for
reorganisation of plans."
Entries for the event are 325, 75 more runners than competed
last year.
Numbers have also been high for other events staged this year
for secondary schools.
The Logan Park road race had 120 entries (same as last year),
and the Caversham relays had 160 (96 last year).
The only event where entries had declined was the duathlon,
with 106 compared with the 124 that competed in 2008.
Last year's event was cancelled twice because of the weather.
"Teachers and pupils like having the series of races instead
of one-off events like they had in the past," Rodden said.
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